I'm a Ghostbuster!
by meekshallinherit
Summary: Louis Tully's journey to becoming part of the Ghostbusters
1. Chapter 1

_Little Shop of Horrors is definitely my favorite movie, but I'll watch anything for Rick Moranis, and I've also gotten interested in Ghostbusters. There doesn't seem to be a lot out there about Louis Tully, so I thought I'd try my hand at writing a fic about him. His journey from being an accountant to part of the Ghostbusters seemed like an interesting thing to take a look at, so I'm planning to pick up where the first movie ends and follow him through the second._

_I do not own Ghostbusters._

* * *

It was late enough to be getting dark outside, and everyone in the hospital was still unsure what to do with the disheveled, marshmallow-covered accountant the ambulance had brought in that morning. As far as anyone could tell, he seemed to be in good health. The doctors and nurses wouldn't have thought he had any reason to be there at all, except for the fact that he was cheerfully telling anyone who would listen about how he'd been turned into a dog.

Had he come in just a day earlier, they probably would have given him a straightjacket and a padded room. But the EMTs who had been at the site confirmed that while they hadn't been able to see everything, some pretty weird things had been happening, and they didn't think it was out of the realm of possibility. And besides, with the kind of things playing all over the news that day, people were ready to believe just about anything.

He was an agreeable little guy, at the very least. He hadn't complained once, even after sitting through hours of every scan and test they could think to try. He talked a lot, for certain, but never complained. It might have been a nice change of pace from the usual people insisting they had somewhere better to be, but after Manhattan had nearly witnessed the end of the world as they knew it, everyone was a little too rattled to enjoy working with this sort of case. He'd caused a bit of a panic at one point, when in the middle of another round of tests he'd suddenly gone white as a sheet and mentioned that his head felt fuzzy. There had been a lot of terrified nurses and doctors worried some demonic creature was about to re-take their patient and wreak havoc in the hospital. But then one of the more level-headed workers who hadn't quite been caught up in the ghost hysteria of the day pointed out that they'd been running a lot of blood work and no one had checked to see if he'd eaten anything that day. A glass of juice and a sandwich from the cafeteria later, and he was back to his perkily rambling self.

No matter how long he stayed there, no one at the hospital had much idea what they were supposed to be doing with him. It wasn't as if they were trained in what to do with the after effects of… whatever it was that he'd been through, exactly. Honestly, they weren't sure if they needed to do anything at all. And still they kept him there, mostly because they really weren't sure what else to do.

After spending awhile with no one else coming in to run more tests, Louis was still finishing off his sandwich and entertaining himself by reading one of the posters on the wall, blissfully unaware of the half-whispered conversation happening just outside the door.

"Yes, I know you want to get him out of here, but we can't just throw him out on the street."

"Why not? We can't find anything wrong with him."

"He says he was turned into a dog. What if something happens?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know… what if there's something still inside him?"

"So we're just going to keep him locked in there and peek through the window every once in awhile to see if he's turned into the wolf-man?"

"I'm just saying, I don't have a clue what we're dealing with here. Besides, he's fine. He's happy in there. I don't think he's even noticed we locked him in. I say we just slide some food under the door every once in awhile and it'll all be good."

"We are _not_ keeping him around here like a lab rat. Every test we've given him has come back negative. I'm telling you, he shouldn't still be here."

"What do you want me to say to him? 'Hi, we know you were possessed and all, but we can't find anything wrong with you, here's a lollipop, now on your way?'"

"Well unless you want to go into super villain mode and dissect him, we're running out of options here. Just having him here is terrifying the residents, and I don't even want to know what the patients will think if they hear about this. I mean it, I want him gone."

The argument went on for a while, until finally they both decided to force the decision onto someone else. Since everyone else had started giving the area a wide berth, the newest doctor there was pulled out of the hall and sent in to 'deal with the situation already.'

"Mr. Tully?"

As soon as he entered the room, it was clear he didn't need to ask if he was dealing with the right patient. He was exactly the way everyone had described him: a good deal of marshmallow still stuck in his hair, swinging legs that were far too short for the table he was sitting on, and looking around with a placidly cheerful expression.

"So, it says on your file here that you were turned into a dog?"

'File' was an understatement. The clipboard he was holding had enough papers that it could probably be published as a medical journal.

"Yep!"

"Are you _sure?_"

Louis considered carefully, and then nodded. "Pretty sure. I guess it could'a been a bear. It looked big enough to be one. But after chasing me awhile it cornered me and I got a better look. I think it seemed more like a dog."

The doctor didn't seem entirely sure that this wasn't some sort of hazing ritual. "Chasing you? I thought you were the dog."

"That was after it sorta jumped in. It showed up at a party I was throwing, although I don't know how it got in, 'cause there really aren't supposed to be any animals in the building. I'm gonna try and bring it up at the next tenants meeting. I mean, sure, it's fine to make an exception if it's something quiet that's not gonna bother anyone, but they really shouldn't be letting something like that thing run around. It could'a really hurt someone."

"Could have…?" The doctor blinked a few times, staring at him in disbelief. "Mr. Tully, you were _possessed_."

Louis had taken another bite of his sandwich, and shrugged as he chewed thoughtfully for a few moments. "Yeah, but I'm okay now. I mean, it could have knocked someone over, or tried to bite someone or something. I'd say things turned out pretty well." After a few more moments of consideration, he added, "This is a real good sandwich, by the way. Is it provolone?

The doctor sent a look at the small window on the door, but the people waiting out there only motioned for him to keep going. He chose to ignore the comment about the sandwich and try to focus on the task at hand. "And… I presume there were other people who can confirm that you were actually… you know, transformed?"

"Yeah, you could ask anyone who was up on the roof. And the same thing happened to my neighbor, Dana. She's a really great person, you'd like to meet her. She didn't end up coming here when the ambulances were picking people up. I think everyone else who was up there rode off together in that cool car with the siren. I guess they must'a forgotten about me. That's okay, though. People tend to lose me in a crowd. And besides, I've been having a great time here. I got to have a cat scan for the first time. Have you ever had a cat scan? It didn't feel like anything was happening, but they told me that was normal. Do you know if-"

"_Mr. Tully._" The doctor finally interrupted him. The others really weren't kidding when they said that he rambled a lot. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get through these questions before we send you on your way."

"Oh, sure. I'd be happy to."

It would soon prove to be the longest and strangest questioning session of his career.


	2. Chapter 2

Louis had lived in his new building for almost a year, and so far, "Operation: make friends with at least one neighbor" was not proving to be a success. He wasn't sure what he was doing wrong, exactly. He was really trying to be as polite and friendly as he possibly could, but he never got any more than a half-hearted smile as they rushed past. Often not even that. Maybe they were just busy.

Still, he wasn't giving up hope. A new couple just moved in down the hall, which meant he had another chance for a fresh start. Determined to be the very definition of neighborly, he'd gone over with a casserole in hand and planned to introduce himself.

The door was opened by a rather tall man, which forced him to crane his neck as he stood out in the hallway. He plastered on a bright smile and nearly held out a hand to shake, but remembered at the last second that his hands were full and managed to avoid dropping anything, even if he fumbled it a little.

"Hello there! My name is Louis, and-"

The man looked down at what Louis was holding, scowled, and turned back to call out to the other person in his apartment. "Honey, I thought you said you were ordering pizza for dinner!"

"I did!" A voice from somewhere within the mountains of boxes responded.

"Well that's not what they sent us!"

Louis looked down at the casserole, realized what was going on, and then quickly began trying to explain. "Oh, no, I'm not a deliveryman, I-"

But the man wasn't paying any attention. "Are you sure you called the right place?"

"Yes, I'm sure! I know how to order take-out!"

"M-my name is Louis… I live just down the hall, and…"

"Well, somebody screwed up something! Maybe we oughta call the restaurant and demand a refund."

"Um… Sir, I…"

The man finally turned back to him and let out a heavy sigh. "Alright, alright." After a few moments of fishing in his pocked, he pulled out a crinkled bill and stuffed it into Louis's hands as he grabbed the large container from him. "Keep the change."

"I-I'm sorry, there's been a mistake. I'm really not-"

The door was promptly shut in his face, and the arguing continued on the other side.

"Sir, that's awful nice, but you really don't have to…" He continued trying to explain anyway. "I'm your neighbor…" He wasn't quite sure what to do, and after a few seconds of consideration, he decided to give the money back through the mail slot. "You, uh… you guys can feel free to stop by any time. I've always got mineral water and nutritious snacks around." He didn't get any response from the other side of the door. "Okay, well it was nice meeting you. Just let me know if you'd like any help unpacking."

Still nothing. They were probably too busy for him, too. He supposed he understood. Moving could be a stressful time.

And yet, he couldn't help feeling a little lonelier than usual as he made his way back to his own apartment. Especially when he realized that he was locked out again.

* * *

"_Help! There's a bear loose in my apartment!"_

He dreamt about that night a lot.

It hadn't taken long for his life to go back to normal after everything that happened. The Ghostbusters got a lot of attention, both negative and positive, and Dana had also appeared on TV for an interview every once in awhile. He wasn't really sure if anyone knew that he'd been there. And none of them ever said that he was. But it was alright, maybe they just forgot to mention it. Or maybe it just didn't seem important. And he should also be grateful that his life remained on track. He'd gotten a new apartment after his last one was destroyed, he'd gone back to work, and everything had settled back into place. Maybe he was just the sort of person that wasn't meant to have anything but a normal life.

"_There's gotta be a way in…"_

And still, the dreams persisted. It never happened exactly the way he remembered the real thing. The strangest thing was that he never actually saw the dog. He always knew it was coming, but he'd always wake up first, or the dream would just stop, and he never saw it. And for some reason, it didn't even scare him. It definitely seemed like the memory of a huge creature with blazing red eyes and giant, sharp teeth ought to keep a person up at night. But although he remembered it clearly while he was awake, it never showed up in his dreams.

"_Please! Somebody! Let me in!_"

But he always, always saw that giant wall of glass. He'd see the people that turned to look at him and stared right through him, like he was nothing more than an interruption to their meal and didn't deserve a second thought. And there were the people who didn't even look up at all. He might as well not have been there.

That was always the part when he'd wake up in a cold sweat, a feeling of panic nearly crushing his chest. He couldn't begin to explain why the dream terrified him the way it did. He just wished that maybe he had someone to talk to about it. His co-workers were always almost impossibly busy every time he tried to talk to them, and he didn't want to bother them. None of his clients were willing to come by any more, though he couldn't exactly blame them after what happened the last time. And he still wasn't having any luck with his neighbors, either.

He missed Dana, and he missed the times she would be willing to spare a few minutes to talk to him. Unlike anyone at his office, she even knew that his name wasn't Lucas. That definitely made her the closest friend he had. He wished they still lived nearby each other. At least it was nice to know that she seemed to be doing well. He saw an announcement in the paper that she'd gotten married. And it… it sort of stung a little, to be honest, but he'd tried his best to bury those feelings. Being happy for her was the right thing to do. He hadn't been invited, but he sent them a nice set of kitchen utensils.

Over time, it wasn't even her in particular that he really missed. He just wanted _people_ in his life.

On one of many nights when he'd woken up before two in the morning and found himself unable to fall back asleep, he'd finally decided that he'd had enough. And with no one else to turn to, he placed himself in front of his bathroom mirror to have a serious talk with himself.

"Alright Louis. Something's gotta change, and we both know it." He began. "Everyone knows you're supposed to average eight hours of sleep a night, and these dreams have been pushing you well below that. Now, you've tried warm milk, and you've tried sticking to the same routine every night, and you've tried just about everything else that's supposed to help, and nothing's working."

He paused to let out a tired breath and ran a hand down his face. "And it's more than that. You used to love going to work every day, and now you feel numb whenever you think about it. And I think I know why. Being in that accounting firm was something you felt good at, and you used to think that maybe you were helping people and making a difference. But now you've seen what real heroes look like, and they're the guys who get out there and take the risks no one else is willing to take. And now… now you have to wonder if anyone would even notice if you just didn't show up in your cubicle one day."

He looked up at the tired, frustrated reflection in the mirror, and found that he didn't like what he saw. Experimentally, he tried forcing a smile, and he decided that he liked that much better. "But you know what? I think there's no reason we can't fix things. I know that you've spent a lot of time wondering if change would ever come. But maybe change isn't something that's supposed to come, maybe it's something you're supposed to go find. So you just have to stop being afraid to go find it. And I think maybe we can find something where you really will make a difference. I've even got a few ideas in mind. We'll look into it in the morning."

He nodded at himself, feeling satisfied that his talk had gone well. He still didn't sleep very well, but at least he spent the night with his mind occupied with happier thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

At first, Louis only had a vague idea what he wanted to do now that he'd decided to make some changes in his life. He couldn't stop thinking about those guys in the jumpsuits. He could see why no one had paid much attention to him after everything that happened. But those guys… those guys were _heroes_. He wondered what it would be like to have that sort of life. And on the few nights when he wasn't having nightmares about the glass wall, he was dreaming about how incredible that life had to be.

But even if their business hadn't gone under, it wasn't as if he could have just knocked on their door and begged them to let him join. No one would think he was cut out to be an action hero. He'd have to find something he was good at. And he was good at forms and rules and taxes. So after a little thought, he figured out exactly what he wanted to do. He started going to night school, and he studied to become a lawyer.

He had always been careful with his money, just like he was supposed to, and he could afford the classes as long as he budgeted carefully and didn't quit his day job. It kept him busy, and it made for a lot of long nights, but he enjoyed it so much he didn't mind. And then, finally the day came when he was officially licensed to practice. No one he'd invited stopped by to celebrate, but his mom remembered to call to congratulate him by the next day, so that was nice.

Helping people with issues related to tax law and an occasional probate case was hardly the same as catching ghosts, and he still couldn't quite stop thinking about it. But at least it felt more like a chance to make a difference than when he was in his little cubicle in the accounting firm. Alright, so maybe a little office tucked into the back somewhere wasn't that much of an upgrade. And he still didn't know if he was really making much of a difference. But it felt like a chance for something to happen, and he liked having that chance. He felt happier with his life again.

And then, one day, he got a call…

* * *

"Mr. Tully?" It was a woman's voice, and one that certainly didn't sound cheerful. It was probably someone calling with some sort of tax complaint they wanted him to settle. People were always pretty annoyed when they had to deal with that sort of thing, but he always tried his hardest to be helpful.

"Yes, that's me. What can I do for you?"

"I've got a case for you. You know about the blackout last weekend?"

How could he forget it? He'd been too nervous to step in an elevator again since. But why would anyone be calling him about it?

"Yeah, I remember… did it result in loss of income or damage of property for you? If it affected your taxes somehow, I'd be happy to-"

"No, this isn't about taxes." The woman interrupted him.

He couldn't help thinking that she sounded far more annoyed than anyone he usually dealt with. "Is everything alright?"

"Is everything alright? Well, let's see here… All the power in the city goes out in the middle of the night, and of course, everyone's furious. And wouldn't you know it, the culprits turn out to be a bunch of mad scientists that never stop to _think_ before they go charging into crazy situations, because it never occurs to them that people might be mad if they cause more damage than whatever they were trying to fix. And even though I haven't worked for them in _years_, they apparently think I exist to get them out of trouble like I'm a dang babysitter watching a group of destructive toddlers, so now I get dragged into this whole thing after they call begging for help, and these guys don't even seem to know how to put their take-out containers in the garbage, let alone handle a court case."

She finally paused to take a breath, and he found himself feeling unsure how to respond.

"I... I'm sorry?"

With the ranting out of the way, she seemed to have calmed down a little. "Listen, the Ghostbusters need a representative in court. Can you do it?"

He nearly fell out of his chair, and he actually did drop the phone. All he could do was sit there, gripping the edges of the table as he stared wide-eyed at the place it had fallen, almost like it was an animal he expected to leap up and bite him. Was this a prank call? It had to be a prank call. Or he was dreaming. That was it. He _had _to be dreaming. This had to be another one of his dreams.

"Mr. Tully? Are you still there?"

He scrambled to grab the phone again, and held it to his ear with shaking hands. "P-pardon me. Would, uh… would you mind repeating that?"

"The Ghostbusters are being taken to court, and we need a lawyer. Can you do it or can't you?"

This couldn't be real. It _couldn't_. Sure, he'd heard about their upcoming court date, but it was shaping up to be one of the most highly publicized events the city had seen in a long time. They couldn't possibly want some guy who's only experience was with filling out forms in a back office.

"I'm sorry, but I think you must be looking for someone else. This is a criminal case, and I've got a degree in tax law."

"Hey, I'm not the one who picked who we were calling. Dr. Venkman seems to think you'd be willing to give us a discount, seeing as they helped you out awhile ago."

He gave a helpless shrug, too flustered to realize it was pointless when he was talking over the phone. "Well sure, I guess that seems fair, but I _really_ don't think I'm what you're looking for."

"Mr. Tully, I can't begin to tell you how pressed for cash we are. If you're licensed to practice law and you're willing to work for what we can afford, you're _exactly_ what we're looking for."

His head was spinning. He'd never been taught to handle anything like this! How could he say yes? But how many nights had he lied awake, just yearning for a taste of this life? How could he say no?

"I mean, I _guess_ I technically _can_ take the case…"

"Then can I tell then you'll do it?"

He rubbed a hand at his temple, still not entirely sure he wasn't dreaming. "Well, I uh… I-I just don't know, I…"

"Mr. Tully… _please_. We need _somebody_."

There was something in her voice that caught his attention. Not annoyed anymore, but tired, and stressed beyond belief. He felt awful for her. He really did. He could tell that she was really trying to help the guys. And he knew what it felt like when you wanted to be helpful but nothing you tried seemed to be the right thing to do. He wished he could help, if only to make things easier for her. But he really,_ really_ should say no. It was a terrible idea. He'd make a fool of himself and of his clients. He had to tell her that she'd need to find someone else. It was the only sensible thing to do. He _had_ to.

"…Okay, I'll do it."

This was going to be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

Despite the fact that he was never trained to be a trial lawyer, Louis did his absolute best to be prepared. He'd read nearly everything he could get his hands on, and even showed up in the courtroom with an armful of more books he hoped to get some last-minute information from if there were ever a few quiet seconds. But no matter how hard he tried to be ready, he honestly didn't think it had done any good.

There really was no question that court orders had been violated, so his only hope was to give a compelling argument that they were doing it for the right reasons. In a lot of ways, it was the complete opposite of what he was good at. If they wanted someone to stand up there and spout off laws and regulations, he would have been fully in his element. But going into this case, he was completely aware that his clients had been shamelessly breaking the law, and would somehow have to convince the judge to forgive them anyway.

He knew that the most important part would probably be the opening statement. If he was going to have any hope of convincing anyone in the room to come around to their side, he would have to get them off to a good start. He had very, _very_ carefully planned everything out to try and make their case as sympathetic as possible, until he had a meticulously crafted speech that he'd re-written and re-read countless times until he finally felt satisfied.

He then proceeded to get up to the front of the courtroom and immediately forget every last word of it.

He wasn't usually one to suffer from stage fright. But then again, he usually didn't have an entire room staring at him and waiting for him to start giving sound arguments he didn't have.

'_Deep breaths.'_ He silently commanded himself. '_You're going to get through this. Just take deep breaths and don't panic_.'

But it was too late. He'd already panicked.

He heard the sound of an impatient throat-clearing, and the reminder that he was standing directly in front of an incredibly stern judge did nothing to ease the horrible swirling of nerves. He tried to swallow, and finding himself unable to do so, sent a desperate glance at the pitcher sitting up on the bench.

"Can I have some of your water?"

He received a very unamused glare and a command to "Get on with it already."

He really couldn't put this off any longer, despite the fact that his current mental state had escalated from 'I forgot my speech' to 'I think I just forgot everything I've ever known in my entire life.' He could do this. It would be fine. He just had to stay calm. And talk. He would also have to talk. Hoo boy.

'_Okay, forget deep breaths. Any breaths. Any breaths are good. Please? You're going to pass out!'_

"Your honor… ladies and gentlemen of the- of the-the audience…"

Less than ten seconds in, and he'd already lost track of the amount of times his voice had cracked or he'd stumbled over his words. Never mind that, he couldn't stop to think about it. He'd just freak himself out more. Keep going. Just keep going. Everyone was staring, he had to keep going. Please, _please_, don't let him pass out while everyone was staring.

"I don't think it's fair to call my clients frauds. Okay, so the blackout was a big problem for everybody, okay? I was stuck in an elevator for two hours and I had to make the whole time. But I don't blame them. 'C-cause one time I turned into a dog and they helped me. Thank you."

Someone laughed. He actually heard someone _laugh_. He wanted to sink straight into the floor. Honestly, he didn't even care whether it went well or not. He just wanted to sit down again and get away from being the center of attention. He forced himself not to run as he went back to his seat again, and managed to get the feeling of panic to ease a little as he tried to convince himself that no one was looking at him anymore.

Okay, _now_ he cared whether it went well or not. And he was pretty sure that it had gone absolutely horribly. And if he had any doubts about that fact, they were quickly squashed when Dr. Spengler leaned over to comment, "Very good, Louis. Short but pointless."

Was he a terrible lawyer for starting to wish the other side would just win fast already?

* * *

Things were not going well. They were definitely, without a doubt, one-hundred-percent not going well. The opposing lawyer had only called up one witness so far, and it was already proving devastating for their case. Now the courtroom didn't just think they caused a blackout, they were being blamed for a river of slime as well. How had things actually gotten _worse_ since they started? Because they'd been pretty bad when they started.

Louis could only hope the recess they'd urgently requested would give them time to come up with a solid plan. Right now, he had absolutely nothing, and he was just about on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

To be honest, he really didn't see how they had a case. The simple fact of the matter was that the guys weren't allowed to be investigating the paranormal, and that was exactly what they'd been doing. He was giving half of his attention to the discussion going on among the guys and half to his notes and papers, especially the blue sheet he'd gotten from the other lawyer. There was no way around it, things weren't looking good. Granted, he didn't understand a lot of it. This _really_ wasn't the sort of thing he'd been trained for. But it seemed pretty clear that they were in violation of their… their re… restrain… _mis_train? … something–ment?

Oh _geez_, he didn't even know what the order was called. By this point, he'd honestly lost track of what he'd actually never learned and what his mind was just too scrambled to remember.

Well, whatever it was, no matter how long he pored over it, it seemed pretty ironclad. He felt more than most that the rules were meant to be followed. And this thing had no loopholes, no wiggle room, nothing. He was pretty sure the only way around it was if the judge himself decided to throw it out, which would be an absolute _miracle_ by this point. He was starting to wonder if it would make things better or worse if he just locked himself in the bathroom.

"'They must have put it there'. They can't possibly think we were lying about an entire river." Dr. Stantz continued trying to argue, apparently not caring that none of the people they needed to convince were around. "There must have been ten thousand gallons of that slime down there."

"It doesn't seem like anyone else saw it. It may be ebbing and flowing from some sort of tidal source." Dr. Spengler attempted to offer an explanation.

Louis nervously looked up from his notes. "Should I say that?"

Dr. Spengler considered for a moment, and then shrugged. "I doubt they'd believe us."

He couldn't help letting out a pained moan as he went back to burying himself in his disorganized piles of papers. His stomach had twisted itself into so many knots that he found himself considering the idea of eating antacids like a bowl of cereal.

"Alright, new plan." He heard Dr. Venkman say. Louis found that it was briefly enough to send a surge of relief through him, at least until it was promptly followed with, "We bribe the judge."

"Guys... you can't..." He started to protest, but Dr. Venkman was already searching through his pockets and continued to talk over him.

"Let's see here... I've got… some sort of receipt for something. No, wait. That's a ticket. Anyone else got anything?"

"I have a library card."

"Still got half a sub from lunch."

"Good, that's... good. This is great." Dr. Venkman responded in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "He'll have to accept this, won't he? Who wouldn't change their mind over half a sandwich and a library card?"

Dr. Spengler was staring intently at the numbers on his card, and his brow furrowed. "We might have to scratch that. This thing expired last weekend."

"Okay then... pilling all our hopes on Ray's leftovers. I feel so much better now, how about you guys?"

Louis was pretty sure he'd passed the edge of that nervous breakdown. Suddenly feeling lightheaded, he gestured weakly towards the take-out bag holding the sandwich. "C-could you pass me that, please?"

Dr. Stantz looked a little confused, but allowed a brief flicker of hope to enter his mind as he passed it over. "What, do you think it would work?"

He couldn't manage to answer. He carefully removed the sandwich, placed it down on the table, and brought the bag to his face as he struggled to force in deep breaths, not that he found himself especially successful at it.

"Hey, uh..." Dr. Stantz awkwardly tried to provide a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll, uh... we'll figure something out." The paper bag merely continued to inflate and deflate with a loud crinkling noise, and he nervously looked to the other guys for help. "Should I try to find a doctor, or...?"

"Eh, leave him. We might get the rest of the case delayed if our attorney has a heart attack."

* * *

When the recess was over and he was forced back to the courtroom, Louis couldn't find so much as one friendly face. A few people seemed entertained, at least, but definitely didn't look like they were taking them seriously. And the judge looked just as eager as ever to slam his gavel down with a guilty verdict.

"Gee, the whole city's against us." Louis muttered as he sunk back into his seat at the counsel table. He _really_ didn't know if he could go through much more of this. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Most of the people nearby ignored him, but Dr. Spengler was concerned enough to hand him a wastebasket.

Even just having to sit in the courtroom again was bad enough. But next thing he knew, the judge was asking if he wanted to call any witnesses, and Dr. Venkman was insisting that he get a chance to "clear a few things up around here".

The back of Louis's mind was immediately running through all of the many ways that was likely to go horribly wrong, but the forefront of his thoughts was busy with more of the staticky noises of panic.

"Mr. Tully, are you calling a witness or aren't you?"

Dr. Venkman looked over at him impatiently and jerked his head in a gesture for him to go up there. Gripping the table so hard his knuckles were turning white, Louis stared back at him with wide eyes and shook his head.

"_Louis_…" Dr. Venkman whispered, his expression somewhere between irritated and a nervous impatience.

"_Please don't make me."_

"Mr. Tully!" The judge called out again, but he only did his best to ignore it, and shook his head at Dr. Venkman again. He knew very well that he was making them look terrible, but he didn't know how to _begin_ handling a direct examination, and he was too afraid to even want to try. He'd just make things worse. Everything he was doing was making things worse.

"_I can't_."

"_Louis…"_

"_I can't._"

Both of them very aware that all eyes were on them, Dr. Venkman briefly glanced around the room and let out a strained chuckle.

"_Come on, people are waiting. Trust me, I think I know what I'm doing."_

_"I don't!"_

The look he was receiving was quickly losing any sense of humor and turning full on impatient.

_"I will handle that, just get me up there."_

He finally managed to do as he was told, even if Dr. Venkman first had to grab his collar and give him a push in the right direction. He just wanted to go back to his forms. Forms didn't complain that you were "leading the witness." He'd never even had a reason to consider what that meant before. Apparently, it still applied even when it felt more like the witness was leading you.

* * *

By the time the trial was nearing an end, Louis had found himself silently begging countless times for something, anything to happen and interrupt them. Somehow, it hadn't quite occurred to him that anything actually _would_.

It most definitely hadn't occurred to him that they'd end up running for cover from the spirits of two brothers who seemed gleefully eager to wreak havoc. And what's more, they were trapped there. He hoped it wasn't his fault the back door was locked. He seemed to be a jinx when it came to that sort of thing. And trying to escape through the front would mean running through the room where the ghosts were flinging chairs and tables around willy-nilly. This really wasn't good. Though he supposed it could be worse. He could have had to deliver a closing statement.

He wondered, would now be a bad time to mention that they legally weren't allowed to help? His clients were probably the only ones who would know how to handle this, and of course, he did want everyone to get out safe. But speaking as an attorney, he would have to advise against it. Doing anything regarding ghosts would still be in violation of their court orders, and they were still in the process of getting in trouble from the last time they'd done that. And as hard as he'd tried to come up with anything, he was still certain that the only way out of those orders was if the judge were to…

Actually, maybe now was a _very_ good time to bring up that the law was preventing them from helping.

And then, as if on cue…

"You gotta do something! Help me!"

"Don't talk to me, talk to my attorney."

_Yes!_ The citing rules part! He could do this part!

"And that's me!" For the first time all day, he actually felt confident that he had some clue what he was talking about. "My guys are still under a judicial mistrangement order! That blue thing I got from her! They could be exposing themselves!"

From behind him, Dr. Venkman chimed in with, "And you don't want us exposing ourselves."

If that wasn't enough to convince him, it seemed to do the trick when they heard the sound of screaming, and peeked out of the spot they were hiding in to see the other lawyer being picked up and tossed out of the room.

"Alright, alright! I rescind the order! Case dismissed!"

For a moment, Louis was so excited that he almost forgot everything that was going on. They'd actually won the case! He wasn't a complete failure as a lawyer! He was close, but still not a complete failure! That was so much more than he'd hoped for!

As the guys prepared to jump into the thick of things, he found himself a little unsure of what to do again. He felt like he ought to be doing something to help, but they didn't really seem to need him. Getting a chance to see them in action was amazing, though. Scary, for sure, but still amazing. He didn't want to miss a moment as they began waiting for the ghosts to approach. And he continued to watch when a stale, dusty sort of breeze started to blow through the room, and soon began leaving chairs flying around in its wake. And he still stayed when there were big, snarling faces floating around and leering at them. And then they were sort of coming in his direction, and…

Maybe he would be more useful if he was offering moral support from somewhere behind cover.

But after a lot of crashing and banging and zapping noises, the chaos died down again, and he eagerly raced back out again to see what happened. The room was in shambles, and a few things were actually on fire, but right then, all he could think about was getting a better look at the still-smoking trap sitting on the floor. He couldn't believe that they could really fit those giant creatures into that little box, and he was pretty sure it was the coolest thing he had ever seen. This was so much better than when it was a regular trial. This was _exciting_. He wished his job could always be like this.

He had about a million questions about how everything worked, but as soon as he looked up to start asking them, he saw that everyone else was already wandering off.

"Hey, guys? You left your trap thingy."

They didn't seem to hear him, and they were busy heading towards the sounds of a crowd gathering outside. That was probably a good idea. The people would be anxious to hear what happened. Maybe he should help get things cleaned up, or find a fire extinguisher or something. But maybe it was more important not to leave the ghost equipment lying around. And this thing really was cool. He wondered if it was okay if…

"Could I carry it, maybe? Guys?"

They still didn't answer. He decided to take it as a yes.


	5. Chapter 5

Shortly after the trial was over, Louis found himself experiencing a feeling of déjà vu. Once again, the Ghostbusters were the talk of the town. And once again, he wasn't quite sure if anyone knew he had been there. But he really couldn't complain. He'd gotten to meet his heroes, and he'd even gotten a chance to watch them catch some actual ghosts. That seemed more than anyone could ask for. Which was a good thing, because they hadn't exactly given him the meager payment he'd asked for at the start of the job.

Standing outside the worn-down doors of their building, Louis wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing by showing up in person to ask about it. As glad as he was to have won the case, he did feel kinda bad that he hadn't been able to make things easier along the way. It might not be entirely unreasonable to forget the money. And besides, they were probably busy. Handling ghosts had to be a time-consuming job, and they were only just getting off the ground again. He was sure that they probably had more important things to handle and just kept forgetting him. Would they be annoyed with him for stopping by to remind them?

He might have decided to forget the whole thing, but it was just…

Well, if he was being honest, he really, really wanted an excuse to see the building they worked in. After seeing them in action in that courtroom, he was more convinced than ever that this whole ghost-busting business was the most incredible thing he'd ever seen. It was only reasonable to want just a little peek into their headquarters, wasn't it?

He still couldn't help feeling like a bundle of nerves as he stepped into the large, seemingly almost-empty building. If any of the Ghostbusters were around, they had to be off in one of the other rooms, because the only one he found there was the woman at the front desk. He could recognize her voice from when she called him about the case, but he wondered if she would remember him. She was busy talking on the phone, but glanced up just long enough to acknowledge his presence and motion for him to wait. He hoped he wasn't supposed to have an appointment or something. He hadn't seen anything indicating that you couldn't just walk in, but he really didn't want to risk doing anything wrong.

Still, since standing around worrying wouldn't do anything, he took the time to look around at his surroundings. It was pretty disorganized, and he couldn't really tell what anything was supposed to be, but that was probably just because he wasn't familiar with how the business worked. All of the gadgets lying around had to be designed for some pretty amazing stuff. Plus, there was an actual _fire pole_, which officially made this the coolest place he had ever set foot in.

He was so absorbed in looking at everything around him that he didn't notice when the woman at the desk hung up the phone. She cleared her throat, but it did nothing to interrupt the awe-struck way his eyes were wandering around the room. She was used to agitated people who seemed like they wanted to get in and out as soon as possible. And she was used to the shaken-up people who also didn't want to be there. What she wasn't used to was seeing anyone coming in and looking _happy_ while standing around this place. She looked him up and down for a moment, eyes briefly pausing on the bright orange vest, and then on the even brighter smile.

"Alright Sunshine, whadda ya want?"

That finally snapped him back to attention, and he nervously scurried over to her desk. "Sorry, I just…" As if he couldn't help himself, the grin immediately broke out again. "I can't believe I'm really _here_."

She didn't seem quite sure what to make of him, but apparently decided that this abnormality in her day warranted a few minutes of her attention. After pushing a paper or two aside, she leaned forward over the desk, still taking him in with an almost critical eye. "You know, it's not your first time in this place." She remarked. "Though I guess you weren't exactly yourself back then."

He could almost immediately guess what she was talking about. He didn't have very clear memories of the time when he was running around looking for the Gatekeeper, but Dr. Spengler had mentioned trying to run a few tests on him. It would make sense if it had happened around here. Still, even if he wasn't himself, it wasn't exactly the best way of making a good first impression. He found himself awkwardly fidgeting with his hands, first pushing his glasses further up, and then tugging at the hem of his vest.

"I hope I didn't do anything too, uh…"

She shrugged before waiting for him to finish. "Rambled about some other dimension, sniffed some things, guzzled hot water out of the coffee pot. Believe me, I've seen weirder around here."

The nervous energy was quickly replaced with a sense of excitement again. "Yeah, I'll bet. There must be all kinds of things going on around here." After another glance around the room, he turned back to the redheaded woman with a look of admiration she could never quite remember seeing before. "You're so lucky. I'd give anything to work in a place like this."

She seemed to be looking for some sort of sign that he was being sarcastic, or maybe making fun of her. As far as she could tell, he seemed pretty genuine, though she still remained a little skeptical. "You really mean that?"

"Of course! This has to be the best job in the world!"

Oh, how she could tell him stories. She'd been through plenty of things that could probably turn that opinion around real fast. And yet, there was something sort of endearing about his enthusiasm, and she found that she didn't want to do anything to curb it.

"So, you here for a reason, or just coming to look around?"

"Oh, right." He dug in his pocket to pull out a carefully folded piece of paper, and somewhat timidly held his contract out towards her. "I don't mean to bother you, but there was the whole court case and everything, and I, uh… I still haven't been paid…"

She gave out a heavy breath, but he was pretty sure it sounded tired rather than annoyed at him. At least, he hoped so.

"I'm sorry, I wrote out the check. It's…" She gestured vaguely around the cluttered room and the papers scattered everywhere. "Somewhere." She let out an even more exhausted sigh. "I know, I know, it's a mess in here. Maybe if they didn't expect me to keep track of this whole crazy operation by myself…"

"Oh, that's alright." He responded with an easy smile as he folded up the paper again. "Would you like some help? I'm pretty good at filing things."

That definitely wasn't what she was used to. Not only was there a complete lack of a snippy reaction, but he was actually offering to _help_ instead of bugging her about doing her job faster. Was this guy actually for real? He seemed like the sort of person you'd expect New York to chew up and spit out again.

"What, you don't have somewhere better to spend your Saturday?"

He replied with a very chipper, "Nope, nowhere."

After just a moment of hesitation, she decided that she didn't get paid enough to care whether or not he actually knew what he was doing, shrugged, and motioned for him to go ahead.

Louis was soon in the process of wandering around the room, doing his best to figure out what paper was meant for what and trying to get them into some sort of order. He managed to stumble over all the clutter in the room many times, and sent papers fluttering across the floor on more than one occasion. But overall, things were starting to get into a more organized state.

As long as she was taking a break, she decided to pick up the reading she was halfway through, but she continued to keep half an eye on him. Not because she was worried, but because she was starting to find him intriguing. He was an awkward sort of guy, but in a way she thought was oddly charming. Kind of like an eager to please puppy that kept tripping over its own feet.

Louis instinctively looked up when the phone rang, but she didn't make any move to take it. He seemed about to ask if she noticed it, but she waved a hand dismissively.

"It can just go to voicemail. I'll get back to them when my break's over."

Though she couldn't tell why, Louis looked as if he'd just noticed that something might be wrong. She continued to watch as he searched through an already-sorted pile of papers, pulled out a bill, and then glanced back at the phone sitting on her desk.

"So that thing has voicemail?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know if you realized it, but the phone company's charging you for an answering service. You really ought to get them to take that off the bill if you aren't using it. Makes good financial sense, you know."

She started to look rather irritated, and it took him a moment to realize it wasn't aimed at him. "Well, I know _someone_ I'm going to have to talk to about burying things in those giant walls of text no one reads." Well, almost no one, she supposed. Louis thought she almost looked a little impressed. Not quite sure how to react, he quickly resorted to his default topic of conversation.

"Who does your taxes?" Instead of getting an answer, he saw her raise an eyebrow at him, as if to question why he was asking. "You guys are really missing a ton of ways to save money. I don't think your accountant really knows what they're doing."

She leaned forward to rest her chin against her hand. "I'd agree with you, but we don't have an accountant. It's just one of the things I get stuck doing."

His face quickly turned a shade of red that rivaled her hair. "Oh gee, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's alright. I just don't see much reason to break my back over something that isn't in my job description."

He still paused to give her a sheepishly apologetic smile before getting back to his self-appointed task at hand. Every once in awhile, he'd point out some other way he'd spotted for them to cut down on expenses, and she took to jotting down notes as he went along once she realized he was noticing far more than she would ever remember. He also apologized and asked if he was bothering her a few times, but she'd merely assure him that as long as it was saving them money, he could bother her all he wanted.

To her surprise, she was finding that having him around made for a rather pleasant afternoon, even if she was stuck at work on a Saturday. He really had a pretty cute smile. And he seemed smart too, she definitely had to give him that. Not to mention being a lot more eager to help than the people she was usually dealing with. And with all the times he had to bend over to pick up something he'd dropped, she was starting to decide that it was the sort of view she could get used to around here. Forget scribbling down notes while he was here, she had a better idea.

"Hey, Dr. Venkman." She called out towards one of the back offices. He didn't seem to hear her, or more likely, was pretending not to. After a resigned roll of her eyes, she went for a sort of tactic that often seemed to miraculously improve his hearing. "Dr. Venkman, did you leave twenty bucks out here?"

It was hardly a few moments later that he wandered into the room, half-convincingly pretending to poke through his wallet. "What do you know, looks like I am missing some…" He trailed off as he looked up and quickly recognized the expression on the secretary's face. "You didn't find any money, did you?"

She didn't bother answering the question. "Dr. Venkman, you know how you've been promising to hire more help since the last time I worked here?"

He was already turning on his heel, groaning to himself about, "Not this _again_."

Before he could get far, she snapped her fingers a few times to get his attention, and pointed sternly at a spot in front of her desk. "_Stay_."

"Look, I keep telling you, I'll get around to it. Things are crazy busy right now, and I'd have to find people actually willing to take this job, set up interviews, go through some sort of vetting process… And besides, you know how many places people can go to find work this time of year. We can't just expect to find-"

"Good news. I already solved that problem for you." She interrupted. "Hire him."

Dr. Venkman didn't seem to have noticed Louis was there until she jerked her head in his direction. Louis promptly dropped every paper in his hands, though he hardly seemed to realize it.

"_Me?_"

She glanced over at him and shrugged. "You said you'd want to work here, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah, more than _anything_." He looked incredibly nervous, as if he half-expected her to yank the offer away again and laugh at him for thinking she was serious. But somehow he still hadn't lost the smile tugging at his mouth, like he couldn't help feeling hopeful. "You really think I could… I mean, you really want me?"

Apparently, Dr. Venkman was wondering something similar. "_This_ guy? _This_ is the guy you want me to hire?"

"Sure, why not? We could use someone who knows how to handle legal and financial issues. Besides, hasn't he already shown you that he knows what he's doing?"

Dr. Venkman continued staring back at her with an unconvinced expression. "Maybe the stories we told you didn't do it justice, because I don't think you realize what a disaster that trial was."

She only insisted, "He won your case, didn't he?"

Dr. Venkman folded his arms as he thoughtfully examined the fidgeting Louis, not looking particularly impressed with what he saw. "Okay then, give me one reason to think this is a good idea."

"I'll give you three." She stated flatly. "He's here, he wants the job, and I'll quit if you put this off any longer."

He paused to consider, and looked so reluctant that Louis was almost certain he was going to say no.

_'Please'_ He silently begged. Things were happening so fast, but he'd never wanted anything more in his entire life. '_I'll never ask for anything ever again if I can just have this chance. Please.'_

Finally, Dr. Venkman rolled his eyes, let out a huffy breath, and pointed at Louis as he sent a stern look in Janine's direction. Not that it seemed to do anything to intimidate her. "Make sure he doesn't take any of my drinks out of the fridge."

And with that, he went trudging out of the room again, and Louis had found himself with a new job. He felt so stunned that he couldn't manage to do anything but stand there, no matter how much he wanted to jump, or cheer, or do _something_. He was a Ghostbuster! Well, he was technically their accountant. But still, he was the _Ghostbusters'_ accountant! Maybe he should ask that nice woman at the desk to pinch him, just in case he was dreaming.

Speaking of her…

Janine was a little caught off guard as he raced over, nearly skidding straight into her desk in his excitement.

"Thank you, so, _so_ much! I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for this. I promise, I don't want to let you guys down. If there's anything you need me to know, or anything you think I should-"

"Okay Sunshine, you can dial it back a notch." She cut him off. Now that he was hopefully around here for the long-term, she might have to be a little more straightforward. "Trust me, the behind-the-scenes stuff around here isn't all that glamorous."

He nodded, trying hard to show her that he was willing to listen to anything she had to say, but it still didn't manage to do anything to tone down his excitement. After a second, something else occurred to him.

"I'm awful sorry, but I just realized, I never exactly introduced myself." He extended a hand, and his smile suddenly became a little more forced, as if this was something he'd become used to thinking hard about. "I'm Louis. Tully. Louis Tully. But I guess you probably knew that already. I just, uh… I mean, maybe it's just polite to say anyway, in case you forgot or something. Not that I think you're forgetful or anything, it's just-"

She met his eyes with an easy smirk that managed to get him to relax again, and confidently reached out to take his hand. "Janine Melnitz."

She didn't release his hand right away, but he either didn't notice, or didn't seem to mind. Being a secretary, one got pretty used to people impatiently trying to get to someone more important to talk to. It was a little odd having someone look at her the way he was, like he would be happy to talk to her as long as she'd let him. And so help her, but that really was a cute smile. Yes, she was sure that she could _definitely_ get used to this.

"It really is nice to meet you." He finally interrupted the long but not quite uncomfortable silence. "Y-you know, as me. All of the dog gone and everything."

"Well…" She briefly looked him up and down again, looking far less critical than the last time. "Let's hope not _all_ of it."

"Um… what?"

She didn't answer, and merely winked at him. He blinked a few times, and then gave a slight, confused tilt of his head.

It would seem that he, on the other hand, was going to take a good deal longer to get used to this sort of thing.


	6. Chapter 6

If Louis had to choose one way to describe his new job, it would be that it was pretty unpredictable. Over the years, he'd helped plenty of people with their finances. Until now, that had never involved budgeting for building and equipment repairs due to "probable explosion damages". Not possible. Probable. He'd asked, and that wasn't a typo.

He was glad he had someone like Janine around to help him settle in on his first day. Nothing seemed to faze her. He hadn't been there long, but he'd already come to admire her a good deal. She spent most of the day tied up in the almost never-ending phone calls, but in the few quiet moments she was awful nice. Even if he didn't say something first, she actually _talked_ to him. As in, they had _conversations_. On _purpose_. It was a very new experience to have at work, and one he was quite enjoying. Plus, she'd apparently noticed the one spot of the room where he kept glancing, and promised not to tell anyone if he wanted to try out the fire pole a few times while the guys were out.

At the moment, she was taking a break, but still remained busy on the phone. He didn't know who exactly she was talking to, but it seemed to be a friendly call rather than a client. He tried to be polite and not listen in, but it was a little difficult when he was pretty sure he was the topic of conversation.

It had started off as a fairly mundane sort of talk, just things like, "Yeah, pretty much business as usual. Just showing the new guy the ropes."

After glancing over briefly, he couldn't help noticing the way she was smirking at him.

"Yes, he is."

He told himself not to look again. He shouldn't be paying attention. Act natural. Don't look back over.

He looked again. She was looking back. And still smirking.

"Yes, _very_."

Very _WHAT?_ Was it something good or bad? He was very good at accounting? He was very annoying? _What was it?_

He almost thought she was trying to drive him crazy. He was pretty sure she liked having him around, but it was hard to be certain. No one had ever acted the way she did around him. He liked it a lot when she smiled at him, or gave him a small wave if she noticed him looking, or found some piece of lint he couldn't see to brush off his shoulder as she walked past. He just wished he could understand why she did it.

Eventually, she wrapped up her call, and much to his delight, she took the opportunity to talk to him again.

"So, how are you liking your first day? Sick to death of all those forms yet?"

"No, not at all." He assured her. "This place really keeps you on your toes. Quick question, though. We've got some huge bill here for a bunch of crystal stuff. Looks like almost the whole store. Is it for some sort of experiment? 'Cause we might be able to write off-"

"No, that would be to cover the damages." Janine sighed heavily. "I swear Dr. Venkman did that on purpose after I told him they had to stop charging around like a bull in a china shop."

He shrugged and offered a reassuring smile. "I'm pretty sure there's a waiver for that sort of thing in our contracts. I'm sure I can sort it out."

He was fairly certain her eyes still didn't leave him as he wandered across the room to gather the papers he thought he might need. He was a little surprised that she didn't seem bored of him by now, though he didn't mind her attention in the slightest.

"You know, being a lawyer sounds fascinating. You'll have to tell me all about it sometime."

He looked over again, and his face lit up once he realized that she didn't seem to be joking. "Okay, I'd like to."

She leaned forward over her desk, the large strand of beads she was wearing making a clacking noise as she idly twirled it around her finger. "You busy tonight?"

"I-"

Before he got a chance to answer, the phone rang again, and she glared at it irritably before snatching the receiver up. "Ghostbusters, whadda ya want?"

He waited patiently as she seemed to recognize a familiar voice, though it didn't exactly improve her mood.

"I thought we were doing that next weekend… I don't care if something opened up early, you can't just spring something on… Yes, I know you want to start getting ads out, but I'm not just going to…" After awhile of arguing, she finally rolled her eyes and let out a huffy breath through her nose. "I'd better be getting paid overtime for this."

"Everything okay?" Louis asked once she had put the receiver back.

"I hope you don't mind working late. Seems they've got a project in the works."

He shook his head. He liked working much better than being back in an empty apartment. "No, I don't mind. What is it?"

She paused to give him a playful grin, her eyes flicking down a few inches from his eyes as she chewed on her lower lip. Though he couldn't quite explain why, he felt heat rush to his face.

"How would you feel about being my husband?"

* * *

Louis had to admit that he didn't know a lot about acting, but once he heard what they were doing, it sounded like fun to give it a shot.

Dr. Venkman had sort of fallen into the role of directing, since he'd once had his own TV show, and he seemed to know the most out of any of them about handling people. There were a lot of comments along the lines of "_Natural, _guys. Try to act a little natural," and "You two _have_ heard how people talk, haven't you?" There was also some muttering under his breath about how he'd "rather work with trained circus animals." Louis figured maybe he was just stressed, because he thought things were going well. They'd even gotten the ghost prop to stop falling off the ceiling and everything.

After he and Janine finished their scene, he didn't have much to do but wait around for everyone else to finish. Dr. Venkman seemed to like being on camera a lot more than he liked being in charge of everyone else, and seemed to be in a better mood even if he was trying to do both at the same time. Although there was still some more muttering about how "an _un_trained circus animal might accidentally step on its mark."

It took some time, but eventually they had recordings where everyone had said all of their lines and been more or less in the right place at the right time. It had quickly been declared "good enough" and Dr. Zeddemore began trying to get footage edited together.

Finally, they were all gathered around to watch the final product. Louis still couldn't believe he was going to be in an actual commercial, and he couldn't wait to see. Though as it turned out, he would have to wait a while longer. He couldn't exactly make out the screen over everyone else's shoulders. But it was fine, he'd still get to see it once it was on TV. It sounded good, in his opinion.

As soon at the footage ended, Dr. Zeddemore turned to give a questioning look to their unofficial director. "Are you _sure_ these are the takes we want to go with? 'Cause we still have this place for a little while if you'd want to try a few more times."

By that point of the night, the good mood had worn off again, and he stared back with an expression that was too exhausted to even look frustrated. "I would rather you shoot me."

Dr. Zeddemore shrugged, and turned back to make a few last-minute adjustments. "Alright, if you say so…"

It wasn't long before the guys were wandering off to change out of their jumpsuits and head home again. Louis wasn't sure if anyone would still be listening, but he still chimed in with a cheerful, "I liked it."

As it turned out, someone was still listening.

"You're cute, you know that?"

He turned around to see Janine leaning against the wall by the door… waiting for him? Was that why she was still there? No, she must have left the room already. She was holding his coat. So… she'd gone to get it and came back for him? He suddenly found himself giving a flustered grin to the floor, and he stuffed his hands into his pockets as he rocked on the balls of his feet.

"You know, you're lucky." She continued as she peeled herself away from the wall and sauntered over to him. "I'd normally make a guy buy me dinner before we climbed into bed."

She handed him the coat, and as he pulled it on, he glanced back at her with a look of confusion she'd already become quite familiar with. "I'm sorry, was I supposed to chip in for something before we started filming? I thought everyone was just bringing their own-"

"It's alright, Louis." She interrupted him with a slight shake of her head and an amused smile.

He really liked it when she smiled at him. It was hard to explain, but it made him nervous in a way that still made him hope she wouldn't stop. But as much as he wanted to just let the moment linger, he probably ought to say something. He was pretty sure that was how conversations were supposed to go.

"You know, you're real good at this acting thing. I bet you could be a professional."

"Thanks, but I think I'm pretty stuck with this job." She said with a good-natured roll of her eyes. "Clearly, these guys have a tendency to do things like black out the entire city when they aren't supervised."

"Well that's okay, you're real good at this too."

She looked a little more touched than he expected. It had to be something she'd heard before, didn't it?

A moment later, she suggested, "So, I guess it's getting sort of dark out. Maybe we should walk to the bus stop together."

He _loved_ his new job. No one had ever even invited him to join an office carpool before, and this was so much better. Someone actually _liked_ being with him!

"Sure, that's a great idea." He responded earnestly.

As they were headed towards the door, he saw her push something bright green deeper into her pockets. "You know, I think I left my gloves at home." She looked over at him almost expectantly, like she was waiting for him to figure something out. "Sure wish I had some way of keeping my hands warm…"

They paused in the doorway, and he quickly reached into his coat to fish his own pair out. "Here, you can take these."

Somehow, it seemed like that wasn't quite what she expected him to say. She still didn't stop smiling at him, though.

"How about we share?"

He wasn't sure what she meant, but he had only just started to ask when she reached out to tug one of the gloves onto his hand. She then pulled the other one on herself, and slipped her still-ungloved hand into his. It was a good idea. He did feel very warm as they walked out into the crisp night together.


	7. Chapter 7

"Louis?"

He was looking for something. He didn't know what, but he was looking for something. There was a whole crowd of people, all of them ignoring him, but he felt he would be okay if he could just spot whatever he was searching for.

"_Louis…_?"

Whatever it was, he hoped he found it soon. It was dark outside, and something bad was going to happen if he couldn't. He just _knew _that something terrible was coming. He could hear its growl, feel it looking at him, sense the way it was getting ready to pounce. But he kept staring ahead, and he kept looking. He _had_ to find-

"Louis?"

Something touched his shoulder, and his eyes flew open as he flinched back. His heart pounded, but he gradually became aware of the desk beneath him, and his breathing began to slow as he pulled himself upright in his chair. He was alright. It was morning, and he was in the firehouse. Not… not back there.

"Louis, did you sleep here?"

He looked up, and it was Janine. Oh, right, that was… that… what had he been thinking about again? He was still groggy, and it was hard to say. Well, never mind. He rubbed at his eyes and sent a quick glance around the room, just to be certain, before answering her question. "Huh. Guess I did."

"I thought you'd already left when I closed up last night." She noted. She didn't go over to her own desk, but instead stayed to lean against his. "You really shouldn't let them talk you into working so late. People have a right to sleep, you know."

He started to fidget with his hands as he looked down. He didn't know how to explain that no one had asked him to work late. He just figured that there were forms that had to be… well, they didn't really _need_ the ones he'd been working on, but he might as well… and it never hurt to have copies, and…

He just… he _liked_ work, and he didn't like going home again. Work had things to do, and ways he could help, and most importantly, it was where he spent time with people. Even when no one else was there, he could at least remember the things that happened during the day. Home was just plain old empty. It made him feel exhausted when he had to spend the whole evening with no one to talk to and no one to do anything with. But as far as he knew, no one else seemed to feel the same way about their job, and he didn't know what she'd think of him if he said that sort of thing out loud.

He assumed she would have been wandering off again by then, but he looked up and she was still there.

"Is everything okay?" She questioned him. "You were muttering in your sleep. Something about 'let me in'?"

"Oh, i-it's nothing." He assured her. She didn't look like she quite believed him, so he gave what he was pretty sure was a convincing smile. She held his gaze, and it became a little more genuine. Things already felt better now that he wasn't in the huge empty space by himself. "Everything's great now. Promise."

She considered for a moment, and seemed to decide to believe him, at least for the moment. "I'm gonna go put some coffee on. You want any?"

"Thanks, but I'm alright."

She gave him one last look, and then finally left to wander over to the coffee pot. He was a little surprised to hear that she hadn't made any already. He hadn't been working here long, but he'd already learned that it was almost never a good idea to talk to her before she'd had her first cup in the morning. He hadn't tried it himself, but the looks she gave to some of the guys had been downright murderous.

He usually preferred to stick to his mineral water. Studies showed that most people didn't keep themselves nearly hydrated enough, so he always tried to make sure he got the recommended amount every day. Though he did think all the coffee made it smell nice by Janine's desk. That was the thing about people, as far as he was concerned. They didn't usually live according to the facts and statistics he was used to, and it made them harder to understand. But even if they made things more complicated, they always seemed to make life better when they were around.

* * *

"We accept certified cash, check, or money order!"

No matter how many times it happened, Louis couldn't help thinking that there had to be a better way of getting a few words in than frantically chasing the car down as it went screeching out of the building. He wasn't sure what else to do, though. He could never manage to get a word in before they left either.

Everything he'd read about fitting in at work seemed to say that getting ignored was usually caused when you were afraid to talk to people. He didn't think that was his problem, exactly. He liked talking just fine. But somehow, he could never figure out how to get anyone to listen.

As he wandered back into the firehouse to get back to work, Louis was grateful that a lot of his job was something he could do with his eyes shut, because he was finding it hard to concentrate. The whole time he was sorting and gathering papers, he kept hearing that siren echo in his head, and he continued to imagine what the guys must be doing. There were a lot of things he admired about the Ghostbusters. They knew all sorts things he couldn't begin to understand, they had a self-assurance he couldn't imagine possessing, and he knew that they had to be brave to do this sort of job. But more than anything, what made him want to be just like them was the way they were all friends.

He knew that he was never the one they were talking to when they'd say things like, "Get a move on everybody, we've got another job to do." But there were other times when it would be things like, "Come on everybody, let's go get a pizza," or "Car's running again, everybody get in and let's go for a spin." He'd always look up and find himself hoping that maybe they meant him too. So far, they never even seemed to notice him when he tried to ask. They were too busy talking with each other, he supposed. And he understood. They knew each other a lot better than they knew him. He didn't let it bother him. Well, he… he tried not to let it bother him.

Maybe it was just that he'd never really felt like part of an "everybody" before. He really wanted to, though. Maybe he just had to be patient and some sort of opportunity would come along.

As distracted as he was, he was still very used to living his life on a schedule, and he knew exactly when it was time for the best part of the day.

"Janine, lunch!"

But even that wasn't quite enough to cheer him up. They were awful busy, and he might have to work through the whole thing instead of getting to put everything aside to talk to her. This day was really starting to stink. Really,_ really_ starting to stink. Geez, that smell was terrible. That wasn't just the day, was it? It seemed like something in the room had to be absolutely _rancid_. What on earth…?

"Boy, it smells like somebody took a big…"

He finally looked up from the file in his hands, and immediately found his lunch being shoveled into the mouth of some big, slimy, green… _thing_.

For just a moment, he stood there frozen, mind scrambling and failing to figure out what to do. But then it started to turn towards him, and he knew _exactly_ what to do. In his limited experience with the paranormal, the best thing to do when facing a creature with beady eyes and a huge jaw was to get away as fast as humanly possible.

He didn't make it very far. Stupid couch. Left out where anyone could trip over it.

Well, he supposed it was still better than that wall he'd fallen over when the dog was chasing him. That thing was a _lot_ steeper than it looked from the other side.


	8. Chapter 8

Louis very quickly realized he might be on his own when it came to the issue of the firehouse apparently being haunted. Janine had found him lying in the spot he'd fallen after tumbling over the couch, and seemed to find it amusing more than anything. She'd told him that he was "Such a cut-up," though he wasn't sure exactly what she meant by it.

Some of the guys were upstairs gathered around the pool table and doing some late-night experiment with a toaster. As hard as he tried, they seemed too busy to listen to him explain what was going on. Though to be fair, he was still pretty frazzled, and his stammering about how "there's a thing" probably wasn't very helpful.

"Whatever it is, would you try to calm down?" Dr. Spengler finally interrupted him. "We're attempting to get a positive reaction out of a psychomagnotheric substance."

"…Huh?"

"You're upsetting the slime." Dr. Stantz translated.

"Sorry, it's just-"

"Actually, we haven't tested how it responds to fear yet." Dr. Spengler noted with a thoughtful expression. "It could be interesting to see if that reaction differs from anger. Would you mind if I measure your adrenaline levels?"

"Oh, uh… Sure, I guess…" He mumbled distractedly. "But I _really_ think one of you guys need to come take a look. There's this really huge thing downstairs, and I think it could be a big problem. I don't know what you guys usually do about this sort of thing, but-" He'd barely even noticed his sleeve being rolled up until something jabbed him, and he immediately let out a startled, "_Ow!_"

Dr. Spengler almost seemed confused, as if it hadn't occurred to him that people might want a little more than a moment's notice before someone came at them to collect their plasma. "Sorry, would you rather give a urine sample?"

"No, t-that's alright. I just…"

"Here, hold this."

Louis promptly had a Tupperware of the pink slime thrust into his hands. He stared at it curiously for a moment, but his eyes quickly widened to roughly the size of saucers when he realized it almost seemed to be reaching towards him.

"Interesting. Not unlike what Ray experienced down in the Pneumatic Transit system. It seems it may react to fear with aggression."

Louis was doing his best to lean as far away as possible. "Yeah, I think it might."

"Of course, that's just a hypothesis. It would take a few more tests to confirm anything."

He normally would have been quite willing to sit there and do whatever tests they wanted, but the slime was still moving uncomfortably close, even as he held it at arm's length. "Can I put it down now, please?"

"Hold on a moment." Dr. Spengler responded with a distracted wave of his hand. He seemed to be busy searching the room for a particular book somewhere in the scattered papers. "I wonder if it could originate from some sort of predatory creature. It would certainly fit with its behavior patterns. Plenty of animals react to hostility by attempting to seem large and intimidating but go in for the kill when they sense helplessness."

"The… the _kill_?"

The slime made a sudden lunge towards Louis's face, and he dropped the Tupperware with a terrified yelp as he dove for the nearest place to hide.

"I'd like to test the idea a few more times. Would you mind coming back later so we could repeat the experiment?"

"Okay." A small voice responded from under the pool table.

Dr. Spengler looked over, and seemed a little confused when he couldn't locate the source of the voice. "Louis?" He ducked lower, and then noticed the new test subject clinging to the leg of the table. "Oh, there you are."

"It's alright, you can come out." Dr. Stantz assured him. "It doesn't seem like this stuff moves very fast."

Louis crept out again very cautiously, and was quick to make sure he backed a safe distance away from the slime. Though it didn't have eyes, he couldn't help worrying that it was staring at him.

Much to his relief, Dr. Spengler soon began ushering him towards the door. "I think we've got all the data we need from you for now. Might as well leave the rest to the scientists."

He was definitely eager to head back downstairs, at least until he remembered the reason why he'd come up in the first place. "But… but the… the _thing_…"

"Well whatever it is, I'm sure you can handle it."

It never seemed to occur to Louis that they might assume he was only worried about some financial situation. It also didn't occur to him that the statement was more of a way to get back to the experiments they were absorbed in than a vote of confidence.

"Well, I, uh… I guess maybe I can handle it. I mean, I don't really know how, but I'm happy to give it a try if that's what you want. Should I just use one of those little box things, or-"

They didn't appear to be paying him much attention, and he quickly found the door shut in his face.

"Okay, well, don't worry. I'll figure it out."

* * *

The next day, Louis was more excited to come to work than ever. He still couldn't believe that the guys actually trusted him to handle a ghost. It was almost like he was a real part of the team. Maybe not quite, but almost. And he could always hope that it would go well, and then they'd see him as one of them. Whatever he was trying to do, he always liked to think that there was hope. Of course, he was usually wrong, but that was beside the point.

Though as eager as he was, he wasn't quite ready to jump straight into the thick of things yet. From what he'd seen so far, it seemed to him that this job took nerves of steel. And as amazing as he thought the whole thing was, he had to admit that the idea of actually being the one to face one of those creatures head-on still made him nervous. He wanted so badly to be one of the heroes who could handle those things, but he worried he'd only freeze up when the time came. He figured that maybe what he needed was an example to follow. And lucky for him, he worked in the same building as the most confident person he'd ever met. Surely he could manage to pick up a thing or two. And even luckier, that day brought about a great chance for him to watch and take a few notes.

A lot of business was done over the phone by people who were too busy to come in person. But every once in awhile, people would come impatiently bursting into the office, usually trying to demand immediate attention. They had one of those people that day. The man was wealthy, that much was easy to tell. Not only because of the expensive suit, but because he'd already found many ways to insert it into the conversation since he came in. He was not particularly happy that it hadn't been enough to get his demands immediately attended to.

"I told you, I've got an urgent problem here. What do you mean you couldn't get anyone out before next week?"

Janine was clearly unfazed by the man's anger, and only briefly glanced up from her typing. "Next week means next week. You know, seven days? It's Friday now, that means you've got to wait until Friday comes around again. Need me to get you a calendar and explain it?"

"_No_." The man said with a frustrated sigh. "You know that's not what I meant. I'm not an idiot."

Janine's eyes went back to her typing as she gave a disinterested shrug. "Look, even if you hadn't shown up at the last minute demanding we get rid of a ghost so you can host some corporate party _tonight_, we've got a waiting list a mile long. You'll be lucky if we can even fit you in that soon."

The man then went for a different approach, one that Janine always seemed to have very little patience for. "Look, I don't think you know who I am…"

She looked up at him again, slowly slid her glasses down the bridge of her nose, and glared at him over the top of them. "Enlighten me."

"I happen to represent a distinguished law firm in this city. Handling paranormal activity is your company's job, I could sue you for negligence after the damages we've sustained."

He loomed over her, leaning in so close that his tie dragged over her desk. Janine pointedly moved a few things out of the way, and then looked past him to the spot where her co-worker was standing across the room.

"Louis, you wanna explain why he can't do that?"

"Oh, uh… sure." Before answering, he scrambled to grasp at a few papers in a hurried attempt to make it look as if he'd been doing something besides watching them. "Suing for negligence requires proof of a breach of duty. We're a privately owned company, which means we don't have any duty towards anyone until we've formed an agreement with them. It would be impossible to hold my clients accountable for damages on the claim of negligence before we have any contract to breach."

He hopefully glanced at Janine with an expression that seemed to ask, 'Did I do okay?'

She nodded once, and then turned her attention back to the man at her desk. "I suspect you'd know that if you spent so much as a day in law school. Now, how about we move things along so you can get back to working in daddy's office? Or whatever it is you _actually_ do."

The man sputtered indignantly for a moment, and then the steely look in Janine's eyes seemed to deflate him. "Friday, then?"

"At the earliest." Moving at a speed that suggested she didn't actually have any desire to help him keep to his oh-so-precious schedule, Janine gathered together a few papers and slid them over to him. "Sign pages one and three, initial page four."

The man did as she said, even if his mouth was pressed into an irritated frown. With a decisive movement, Janine pulled the necessary papers together, grabbed the stapler, and slammed it down firmly. The man stood back up to his full height, and the papers came with him. He looked down to find them stapled to his tie.

"My mistake." Janine stated. The tone of her voice was precisely the opposite of apologetic.

It wasn't long before the man was walking out again in an indignant huff. Janine looked over to Louis, the atmosphere of the room shifting back to friendly again. The phones spent a lot of the day ringing off the hook, but he loved the times when he and Janine got a chance to talk.

"I hate when people go around acting like they're better than everyone else just because they've got a suit on." Janine muttered somewhat irritably. "Though I guess it's better than the people who think it isn't obvious when they're only being nice to you to get something. Don't you hate when that happens?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Louis replied. To be honest, he wasn't sure if he could remember a time when that happened to him. He supposed all of the people at his last job never wanted to do anything outside of work, and only ever said that they _might_ have time if he'd agree to help them with something. But they were busy, so it seemed only fair. He sometimes heard a bunch of people there making plans without him, but maybe they just forgot to tell him that something opened up. And then the Ghostbusters had been nice enough to let him have a job here. Sure, he wasn't exactly being paid a lot. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure when he'd last been paid at all. But the guys said they would get around to it, so he was sure they just kept forgetting. And as Dr. Venkman pointed out, he did owe them after they freed him from the terror dog, so the fact that they forgot to give him a paycheck sometimes wasn't a big deal. Even if he was starting to get a little worried about paying his bills…

He was pulled out of his thoughts again when Janine continued, "Of course, the worst is when guys see a skirt and think they'll get everything they want just by flashing a smile and dropping some cheesy pickup line. Sometimes I have to tell them I'm seeing someone just so they'll leave me alone." She paused to send him a meaningful smile, though what exactly that meaning was flew well above his head. "It would sure be nice if I could say it and have it be true, though."

He wasn't sure exactly how he was supposed to respond to the look she was giving him, and decided to go for reassuring. "Hey, don't worry. You're a great person. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for you to find someone who's great, too."

Still smiling, she leaned forward to rest her head against her fist. "Bet I don't have to look far."

Louis turned around and sent a confused glance at the wall behind him, struggling to figure out what she suddenly found so fascinating. Finding nothing, he turned back again, and decided to put it out of his mind. He really liked spending time with her, and it was best not to waste it worrying. He still wasn't very used to the idea of having coworkers who seemed to go out of their way to pay attention to him. And she was certainly giving him her full attention now.

"Have you got a girl, Louis?"

"Nah, nothing like that." He said with a nonchalant shrug. "One girl at my last job asked if I'd want to go get coffee, but it turned out she was just sending me to pick up orders for the rest of the office."

"Well, it's a shame you're not seeing anyone." She responded. Though she didn't exactly look like she thought it was a shame. "Sweet, good looking guy like you, and a lawyer, too? Not to mention a great accountant. Any girl would be lucky to be with you."

He still didn't understand the look she was giving him, but he felt a strange, sort of happy fluttering in his chest. That might be the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him. "Really? You think so?"

"Sure I do. You know, a lot of women say that there's nothing more attractive than a man with intelligence." She paused to take a sip of coffee from the mug on her desk, never once breaking eye contact. "I know I think so."

He felt a lot better about the idea of hunting down a ghost now. When he was talking to Janine, it seemed almost like she saw something in him, even if he didn't know what it was. But if she believed in him, he was sure it had to mean there was hope for him yet.


	9. Chapter 9

Louis's first attempt at catching a ghost didn't exactly go according to plan.

The first thing to go wrong was the loss of his bait before he could actually use it. He'd planned on using his lunch, but he apparently needed to find a better place to set his lunchbox down, because the big green thing found it and scarfed the whole thing down again. But no matter, he'd just get something else. He decided to pay for it out of his own pocket, even if he technically could write it off. No one but him seemed to look into the books anyway, but just in case, he didn't really want to explain why fried chicken was a business expense.

The next thing to do was set up the trap. The whole thing seemed simple enough. All he had to do was leave it under the bait and spring it at the right time. What could go wrong? Really though, nothing could go wrong, right? That was what he was trying to convince himself, at least. Though he still couldn't help feeling jumpy as he stood there, anxiously bouncing his foot as it hovered over the switch to activate the trap.

He could smell the ghost coming long before he saw it. Even though he could feel his heart pounding in anticipation, he did his best to force himself to stay calm. If he wanted to get something right, now was no time to panic and lose his head. This wasn't like a form that he could re-check as many times as he wanted. This was the sort of thing you got one shot at.

He very nearly hit the switch fast enough. It just turned out the ghost was a lot faster than he expected. It not only managed to run free, it made off with the bait as well. And… it also turned out you really shouldn't put those trap things up on a table if the ceiling wasn't high enough. At least, not if the avalanche of plaster that came crashing down was any indication. He should probably call somebody to fix that. And maybe pay for that himself too. He just hoped he could afford it.

Okay, so it was definitely a setback, but he tried not to let himself be too discouraged. So what if one thing had gone wrong? Even if that one thing was technically the entire plan. He'd just have to figure something else out. And preferably keep people out of that room until he got it fixed.

* * *

He spent a few days without managing to track down the giant slime ball again. He still did have a regular job to do, and that thing moved pretty fast. But he was sure he would come up with something, and he was already hard at work coming up with new plans. Though he did wish the ghost would stop stealing his lunch in the meantime. It always seemed to be hungry, but Louis was pretty sure it was making a special effort to gobble down his food every day. He'd have to figure out something soon if he ever wanted his lunchbox to remain untouched until noon.

"Whatcha working on there?"

In the middle of revising a flow chart of ideas on how to proceed, he didn't notice Janine approach until she was standing by his desk. She looked over his shoulder, took a brief glance at the paper, and raised an eyebrow.

"Operation: part of the team?"

He hurried to place some other papers on top of it before she could read any more, and then looked up with a nervous smile. He wondered if he should stop labeling his plans. Even if he did kinda like how it made him feel like he was in a spy movie. "That's just, uh… personal project."

She looked mildly intrigued, but didn't press the matter. "Well I hope you've also got your shopping list finished, because I can't wait to get this whole thing over with."

He responded with a bright grin, and eagerly began fishing through a few folders to find another carefully organized piece of paper. Trying to catch a ghost had taken up a lot of his attention, but he still hadn't forgotten that he and Janine had plans to go shopping for the holidays together. He had this whole thing down to a science, and she seemed to hope it would go faster if she brought him along. After finding what he was looking for, he hopped out of his chair, and didn't even seem to realize he was brimming with so much energy he was bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"So, I'm thinking that Herald Square is gonna be our best chance of finding everything we need in the same area, which I figure is a good thing, since, you know, probably don't want to go walking all over the place carrying a bunch of stuff. And they've got a subway and a train station right there, which you definitely wanna have, 'cause the cab drivers like to charge you for having boxes, which they're really not allowed to do, but they get pretty mad if you try to point that out. Plus over there they've got the big Macy's with the Christmas window display, and that's always fun. But if there's anything else you were thinking-"

"Louis, I think you're the only one I've ever met that actually gets excited about this sort of thing." Janine gently interrupted him.

"Are you kidding? It's a day full of financial planning and standing in crowds full of holiday spirit. That's pretty much the two greatest things."

She shook her head at him, almost like she was trying to look exasperated, but she still smiled as if she couldn't help finding his excitement charming. "Okay, but just keep in mind that we're in the middle of New York. I'm not sure how much goodwill and cheer you're going to be able to count on." She leaned back as she took him in, the corners of her eyes crinkling with amusement. "Though I think you might have enough for the whole city."

He didn't answer right away, but he looked even happier than before, if that was even possible. He didn't know what it was about her, but she seemed to have a way of setting off butterflies in his stomach. It was hard to explain how someone could make you nervous in a way that still made you desperately want to be around them, but he knew that was what he felt about her.

"So, I think it's about time to close up. You ready to head out?" She finally broke the quiet moment.

"Okay." He responded enthusiastically. Figuring out whatever it was could wait. For now, he knew that this was one of the best days of his entire life. He always looked forward to this sort of thing, and he was sure it would be a million times better now that he got to do it with her.

* * *

Though Louis had already done plenty of research into exactly what stores would have what and where they needed to go, it turned out Janine was more of a 'wander around and see what catches your eye' sort of shopper. It wasn't what he was used to, but he found that he liked trying it her way. Not to mention that if he wasn't following her, he never would have ended up walking into a pet shop just because she thought it would be nice to get a break from the crowds and see some animals. He didn't mind crowds, but he was eager to do whatever would make her happy. Normally, he never would have gone into a shop where he didn't need anything, but it turned out to be a fun idea.

He usually prided himself on never making impulse buys for things he didn't need. Maybe he wasn't quite as good at it as he thought. It turned out that going into a pet shop 'just to look' was how you wound up with a hamster. But even if it wasn't on his list, he couldn't help it. It seemed like such a sweet little thing, and when he mentioned that he was going to be sad to have to put it back, Janine wondered out loud why he didn't just keep it. He was then very glad he always made a point of knowing every rule about the buildings he lived in, because he knew that his new apartment allowed pets if they were small enough, and a hamster certainly fit the bill.

Even if it was breaking his usual rules of frugality, he figured a soft ball of fluff that could sit in your hands and make cute little squeaking noises was the best impulse buy one could possibly make.


	10. Chapter 10

"Remind me why you guys can't do this upstairs like you usually do?"

Things were often pretty hectic around the firehouse, and they were even more so than usual while the guys were working with their slime down in the main office. Whatever they were up to, Janine seemed to be very quickly losing patience with everything going on, especially after some of the pink substance had bubbled over onto the magazine she'd been reading.

"We're waiting for the fumes to clear out." Dr. Spengler explained as he continued fiddling with a small canister. "We haven't had a chance to see if any of the chemicals involved were toxic."

Janine rolled her eyes, and was already reaching for the phone. "And was anybody gonna say anything? At least _tell_ me when these things happen so I can get someone to fix it."

From the spot where he was hovering next to her desk, Louis piped in with, "It's alright, I put the emergency management people on speed dial." In the midst of everything happening, he'd tracked down a roll of paper towels and was doing his best to clean things off for her. He sometimes felt like he got a little swallowed up whenever there was a lot going on, and he was honestly a little surprised when Janine noticed that he'd said something and looked over.

"I don't suppose you'd also have any ideas how to keep this stuff from happening in the first place?"

He thought for a second, and then responded, "Well, I tried putting up one of those sheets to keep track of how long it's been since the last workplace disaster."

She didn't stop dialing the phone, but looked a little curious. "How long did we make it?"

"I'm not sure. It caught fire."

She merely shrugged, as if this was all the sort of thing she'd become more than used to, and went back to the phone. It took a fair amount of convincing, but she eventually managed to talk someone into coming over, though not without plenty of glaring at the guys to keep it down with their rather loud experiments.

"I definitely think we're making some breakthroughs with getting a positive reaction." Dr. Spengler continued talking to the guys in spite of the glaring. "If we can figure out how to infuse this stuff with a positive charge, it could make an effective way to combat to effects of the rest of the slime spreading through the city."

"I think I might have a book that would help. I'll head out to the store and grab it." Dr. Stantz suggested.

"Probably not a bad idea."

"Hey!" Janine had just hung up the phone, and sent a sharp glance at the spot where Dr. Stantz was already reaching for the door. "Nuh-uh. It's thirty degrees outside. You aren't going out there without any layers on."

"I don't know where I left my coat."

"You left in on the car engine, I put it in the closet." She informed him.

While he was off to get it, Dr. Zeddemore was looking at his watch again, not for the first time. "Look, we've been at this for hours, and I'm ready for a break already. I'm gonna run out and get us lunch. Is everybody good with pizza?"

Dr. Spengler nodded distractedly, but Janine let out an irritated sigh. "You guys have had pizza twice this week, and it's only Wednesday. We've got sandwich wraps in the fridge, take some of those."

"Has anybody seen my drill?" Dr. Spengler interjected. "It seems to have gone missing from the rest of my equipment."

"It's not missing, it's confiscated." Janine told him with a chastising look. "You've lost drill privileges after you tried to take a sample of Louis's brain tissue."

"He signed a waver."

"I don't care."

Dr. Spengler looked down at the box of tools in his hands, noted that almost everything else sharp had been removed as well, and then asked, "What else am I supposed to use?"

Janine fished around in a drawer for a moment, and pulled out something made of bright blue plastic. "Here. Safety scissors." She announced as she passed them over to him. "You can have the power tools back if you manage to avoid nearly killing anyone with these."

Dr. Spengler held them in his hand and considered for a moment, and then shrugged and went back to trying to work.

By that point, Dr. Stantz had come back again. In addition to his coat, he also had a large bundle in his arms, which he promptly dropped on Janine's desk. "Hey, I noticed most of our uniforms are getting covered in slime again."

She seemed to be hit with a fresh wave of irritation at the green slime all over her already-messy desk. "I told you people, that's what happens when you leave food in the pockets. You know how your little ghost friend gets into everything."

"Any chance you could get them washed off? We're running out of spares."

She gave him a look of deadpan annoyance, but still began folding everything up into a neater pile. "Right, because I have nothing better to do with my time than handle your laundry."

"Great, thanks!"

"Hey, Janine…" Dr. Venkman had been working back in his office all the while, but wandered out again with a collection of restaurant listings in his hands. "I'm having trouble finding anything with spots open on Christmas that doesn't come with a ball pit. Did you call anyone about New Year's Eve like I asked?"

"Armand's, eight o'clock, and they _will_ give your table away if you show up late. And you'd better not be late, because I practically had to promise them your firstborn child."

He didn't look up, and scribbled down a quick note. "That reminds me, one more thing. Have you got any experience looking after children?"

Janine gave him a long, stone-faced look over the mountain of clothes on her desk. "I think I could manage to figure it out."

A loud bang suddenly rang out through the firehouse, and after flinching, everyone sent a wary glance towards the direction it had come from above them.

"It just occurred to me, I may have forgotten that I left one of our slime containers on low heat in the microwave."

"Alright, that's it." Janine snapped as she rose to her feet. "Out. Everybody out."

"But upstairs is still-"

"You can go work in the basement. Or better yet, take the afternoon off so I can get everything fixed without anything worse happening. I've got a lot of work to do, and everybody's driving me crazy."

Louis ducked his head and took a step back as his mouth pressed into a worried frown. Janine was quick to notice, and her expression softened into a playful smirk as she reached out to tap him under the chin.

"Not you."

Apparently, there were some times when it was sorta nice not to be part of "everybody."

Before long, Dr. Stantz had headed out to the store like he'd planned, Dr. Venkman took her suggestion of heading out, and Dr. Spengler and Dr. Zeddemore had gathered everything up to continue working downstairs. Janine let out a slow breath as she sunk back into her chair, and it seemed to take a lot of willpower to get back to folding the mess of jumpsuits into a manageable pile. Without a word, Louis fell back into place next to her desk and reached over to help her.

He only got as far as the first one before he paused. He couldn't help stopping to think as he unfurled the jumpsuit and felt the solid weight of it, idly running a thumb over the khaki fabric. This was really what the guys wore when they were out there, catching ghosts and being the sort of heroes he still could only dream of being. He could hardly believe he was holding it in his hands.

"_Wow_…"

Janine looked up at his breathless whisper, and any remaining irritation quickly faded as she looked at him with a fond smile. "Louis, would you like to try one on?"

He broke out in an excited grin, but it quickly disappeared again when he looked back down at the fabric trailing on the floor. "Oh, I-I don't think I could."

She gave a small wave of her hand. "Sure you could. I wouldn't have to tell anyone."

"No, I… I mean…" Too embarrassed to say what he was thinking, he hoped she would understand when he held the garment up to its full height, where it nearly rose all the way above his head.

"Oh, I see."

His face turning red, he quickly placed it back down. While he stared at the floor, Janine quietly slipped it off the pile and tucked it away under her desk, making a mental note to stop by a dryer at the Laundromat later and see how much she could manage to shrink one of those things.

Looking for something else to say, Louis made one last attempt to wipe off the cover of her magazine and passed it back over.

"Sorry, it might still be a little sticky."

"It's alright." She assured him.

"Were you reading anything good?"

She paused to flip through a few of the crinkled pages, being careful not to tear any that were stuck together. "I like reading some of the studies they've got in here. Some people think I'm too intellectual, but I think this stuff is just fascinating."

She turned it a little in his direction, and he moved closer to get a better look.

"See here, there's this whole examination of color psychology. Apparently, you can really learn a lot about a person by their favorite color." She pulled the magazine back towards her, and looked up at him inquisitively. "Do you happen to have a favorite?"

Louis smiled eagerly and nodded. "I like orange."

"Orange." Janine repeated with a small nod of her own. "Interesting. Not one I hear a lot."

Maybe it was silly, but he couldn't help feeling a little nervous, as if maybe he'd answered the question badly somehow. "W-what does that say about me?"

She quickly thumbed through a few pages, eyes darting back and fourth over whatever facts she found important. "It combines the drive and determination of red with the cheerfulness of yellow. Says here that it means you're friendly and optimistic, you're the sort of person who enjoys throwing parties, you tend to see the best in others, and you have a strong zest for life. Also says that you don't like feeling alone and crave being accepted as part of a group." She dog-eared the page, set the magazine down, and looked back over at him. "Don't know what you think, but I'd say that just about sums you up."

It didn't seem as if she thought any of it was a bad thing, and he relaxed again. "That's really neat. What about you?"

"Oh, I'm definitely a red sort of person." She leaned in a little closer, close enough that her shoulder brushed against him. "You know, red and orange are next to each other on the color wheel. Means they go well together."

He found himself swallowing back a lump in his throat, but still felt a tugging at the corner of his mouth. As much as he wanted to impress the guys, he also really liked these moments when it happened to be just the two of them. As long as they were thinking about colors, he couldn't help but notice her eyes. He always thought that they reminded him of chocolate. Dark chocolate, most of the time. She could definitely convey a hard, bitter sort of look better than anyone else he'd met. But there were other times she was looking at him, and that look turned into something awful sweet.

He wasn't sure if he'd ever met anyone who looked at him the way she did. Most people rarely bothered to look at him at all. But even if he didn't quite understand it, he knew that it made him even happier than filling out tax forms. And that wasn't something he said about many things.


	11. Chapter 11

Louis was quickly deciding that it had been _much_ too long since he'd gotten a chance to go to a party. Though to be honest, he never remembered it involving being hooked up to some sort of colander-like contraption. And he was also pretty sure he remembered it involving a lot less data analysis. Overall, it seemed to be a pretty quiet sort of party, except for maybe the Jackie Wilson music blaring from the radio. He felt like he was just about the only one talking to anyone else. He'd been told to keep going, though. Something about how discussing the finances behind the party planning seemed to raise his endorphin levels. And anyway, he was having a good time. This was much better than sitting around by himself all night.

All at once, the still atmosphere of the room was broken when Dr. Venkman came in, full of energy and carrying a large carton and an armful of red plastic cups.

"12:01. It is now December 25th." He pronounced. "Anybody know what that means?"

Louis's hand shot enthusiastically into the air. "Peking duck and no lines at the movie theater?"

"We're officially being forced to work on Christmas, that's what it means." Janine said with an annoyed scowl in her boss's direction. "People still expect the day off if they're Jewish, you know."

"It _means_ that it's high time we break out the eggnog already." He responded with an expression that showed a stubborn refusal to be swayed by her complaining. "And you aren't being forced to work. We're all enjoying a company party that happens to be mandatory if you want a bonus this year."

"This sounds like extortion." She grumbled as she tapped a pen impatiently against her desk. "Louis, can I sue them for this?"

"Well-"

"No one is suing anyone." Dr. Venkman quickly interrupted. "Look, this wasn't my idea, I'm just making the best of it. Ask Egon about it. He says the safety of the world depends on us living it up tonight. Call me crazy, but that's good enough for me."

She looked accusingly over at Dr. Spengler, who only briefly glanced up from tracking the data on a nearby screen.

"That's not exactly how I explained it, but he's not entirely incorrect. There's no telling how much positive-charged slime we might need, and I want to take advantage of a day known for high spirits as long as possible."

"So I'm not just being forced to stay here all night, I'm supposed to be cheerful about it?"

"Essentially, yes."

The tapping against the desk grew a lot more forceful, and the look in her eyes suggested she was thinking up a lot of biting remarks towards everyone in the room.

"You know, this is going to be a long night if nobody but me is getting into the spirit around here." Dr. Venkman pointed out after chugging down the last of what was already his second cup of eggnog. "For example, I could tell you how that's the ugliest sweater I've ever seen, but in the spirit of the holidays, I'll just tell you that's a very nice picture of a moose."

She glared at him, and instinctively dug a hand into the wool in an almost protective sort of gesture. "Hey, no one else around here got me anything. I'm gonna wear what I did get."

The half-hearted bickering continued for a while, and Louis found that he was enjoying the night more than ever. He thought it reminded him of having a family around to get on each other's nerves while everyone was gathered together. At least, he imagined this was what it would feel like. His family never seemed to bother to get together. He definitely liked it, in any case.

Some time later, Janine came over to pull the colander off his head and tugged him away from the churning equipment, and merely responded to any objections with, "He's our accountant, not a battery. You can't just keep him there to charge your slime all night."

Talking about all the ways to save money on party food was fun, but he thought that getting a glass of eggnog with Janine was plenty of fun, too. This was definitely better than being at home.

"This is a great party, don't you think?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." She replied, though it seemed to be almost entirely lacking in enthusiasm.

He felt bad that she didn't seem to be having a good time. He wondered if there was anything he could do to help. It couldn't hurt to try, he figured. Still grinning from ear to ear, he set his cup down, and extended his hands hopefully towards her.

"Would you like to dance?"

She squinted at him a little curiously, and then glanced around the rest of the room. "Louis, no one's dancing."

"Well that's okay, maybe they'll join in if we start."

She hesitated for a moment, before she couldn't help letting a small smile tug at her own mouth, and she reached out and let him lead her over to a clear space. But even so, it wasn't long after that she was giving him a strange look that was somewhere between amused and surprised.

"You're an… _interesting_ dancer, Louis."

Before he could ask what she meant, she pulled him closer, taking one hand in hers and guiding his other hand to her side.

"How about something a little more like this?"

As she guided him through a few quick steps, Louis was quickly becoming convinced that this was one of the best nights of his life. He was fairly certain what he was doing was closer to stumbling than dancing, but she didn't seem to mind, so he didn't either.

* * *

As the night wore on, things got better and better. And a little disorienting, maybe. That eggnog was good stuff, even if it tasted a little different than he was used to. And several cups later, he was sure that everything in the whole entire world was more amazing than it had ever been. Although he couldn't understand why the room seemed sort of crooked, like an off-balance picture frame you couldn't get to hang straight. The more it tilted, the harder he found it to walk straight. It must have gotten so hard he could manage it anymore, because things kinda went dark for a minute or two, and next thing he knew he was sprawled out on the couch.

"Dr. Venkman, next time you decide to throw a Christmas party in the firehouse, _warn _people the eggnog is full of brandy." He heard a voice come from somewhere above him. A very annoyed voice, but one he very much liked hearing.

"What kind of person goes to a Christmas party and doesn't assume someone spiked the eggnog? That's the only reason people buy this stuff."

This time, the bickering didn't continue very long. Maybe everything had been dark for longer than a minute or two. It seemed like things were wrapping up for the night.

"Louis? Do you want some coffee?"

There was that voice again. He really, really liked hearing it. And he was even happier when the person it belonged to came to sit next to him as he sloppily tried to pull himself upright.

"Yes, have some."

He wasn't sure where he remembered the words from, but he was in the sort of mood where almost everything seemed funny, and he couldn't help but laugh at himself. He slipped a little, and scrambled to grip at the fabric of the couch.

"Easy there. You doing alright?"

"I'm great. I feel great. Never been better."

"Yeah, I'll bet. You've got a pretty good buzz going there."

Somehow, he successfully managed to pull himself up to his feet. He hadn't quite planned ahead to staying that way. But at least he didn't start to fall for very long before two hands reached out to grab him.

"Alright, I think I'd better make sure you get home safe." Janine stated decisively.

He definitely wasn't about to complain. He was always happy to spend more time with her. And she even managed to get them a taxi. Despite how long he'd lived in New York, he'd been in taxis very rarely. There were cheaper ways to travel, and they never seemed to stop for him anyway. But Janine seemed to be one of those people who'd perfected the art of whistling for their attention in a way they found impossible to ignore.

By some miracle, he still did have the key to his apartment, but it still took some time to get him into the building in the first place. Janine spent awhile arguing with the night worker stationed at the front desk. He was still a little confused about… well, everything, really, but he caught a few words here and there.

"No, he's not 'the weird little delivery guy with the casseroles'! His name is Louis Tully, and he lives here!"

But finally, he was at his front door. And suddenly things didn't seem quite so great anymore.

"Everything alright there?"

He peered into the dark room, and shook his head. "Do you ever wonder if..." He paused, struggling to figure out how to put into words what he was thinking. Right then, he was finding his mind swirling with a lot of things he usually tried not to think about. He was used to it being quiet in there. He usually liked to watch movies until he fell asleep, just so he could hear voices and pretend he wasn't so on his own. Some of those old black-and-white reruns sometimes felt like his only friends. "If maybe life is like one big game of hot potato. Like you're just being pushed along, and no one wants to end up stuck with you?"

She stared at him quietly for a moment, and then extended her arms towards him. "Louis, do you need a hug?"

Yes, he very much did. He nodded and eagerly stepped forward, nearly tripping over himself in the process. He was sure he would have would up on the floor, but two fists formed in his coat and held him so he couldn't fall. He couldn't even remember the last time someone had pulled him close like this. He couldn't help thinking that she fit kinda perfect against him. And from how tightly she held on, he almost thought she needed this as badly as he did.

But all to soon, she pulled away again. "Go get some sleep Louis, alright?"

Much as he hated to admit it, he really did feel about ready to collapse right where he was standing. But he supposed it was alright. He could see her again in the morning. He wondered if it could possibly come fast enough.

* * *

It was crowded outside. So crowded he could hardly manage to move through all of the people. But he knew he had somewhere he needed to be, so he kept trying to make his way forward. He felt heavy, like something was trying to drag him down. It made it even harder to move. But he _had_ to. He couldn't stop.

The building loomed before him, large and swollen to many times its usual size. There were the people inside, none of them looking. None of them noticing. Calm and distracted from any danger. He reached out, and his fists hit hard, solid glass.

"_Please! Somebody!_"

The glass began move, subtly at first, but then it distinctly began to ripple and warp. It became thicker, irregular, pulsing. Like some sort of living, breathing monster.

He frantically scrambled back as it began to move, oozing past it's frame and spreading out in every direction. It started to take on a sickly pink color as it moved to surround the building, swallowing up his view of what was inside. He tried to step forward again, but it was already beginning to re-harden into a solid shell he didn't even dare trying to touch. He couldn't get in. He'd never get in. He-

He woke up, not to the usual sound of his alarm clock, but to an insistent squeaking noise. Instinctively, one hand fumbled for his glasses, which he quickly found on his nightstand and slid onto his face.

'_Get up_.' Some small, rational voice managed to make its way through the pounding in his head. '_You can't stay here on your own._ _Just get up_.'

Barely aware of what he was doing, he pulled himself to his feet and stumbled towards the noise that had woken him. He was a little more awake by the time he'd made his way over to the hamster cage, and his heart began to slow as he unlatched it and carefully picked up the small creature inside. He'd found that having a pet around seemed to help when this sort of thing happened. There was something about petting a soft little ball of fur that had a very calming effect, and he'd spent a lot of nights pacing the floor and quietly telling stories to the small, fuzzy, and willing-to-listen ears until he'd gotten his mind off of everything enough to go back to sleep.

But this time, he only got partway through explaining how Cinderella was the next of kin and legally should have inherited the entire estate, only the probate courts weren't so good back then, so the Wicked Stepmother managed to claim the whole thing. He was just starting to get into the various violations of federal labor laws when his mind cleared enough for him to realize that he hadn't woken up in the middle of the night like he usually did. Light hurt his head badly, which made it impossible not to notice that it was bright outside. He glanced at the clock, and quickly shut his eyes as he drew in a sharp breath. He must have forgotten to set his alarm, and he was well past being late for work. Even if he could muster up the energy to get ready in a hurry and race out the door, he wouldn't be anywhere close to on time. And with the way he felt at the moment, he was pretty sure he'd rattle apart into a million pieces if he tried to do anything too quickly.

The impatient squeaking started up again, and he winced as he realized just how behind he was getting on everything.

"Sorry, you probably want breakfast already, don't you little guy?"

He gently placed his pet back in the cage, and began to measure out the vet-recommended amount of pellets from the brand of hamster food that came with the highest nutritional value. And because he felt bad about causing a delay from the usual schedule, he stopped by the fridge and added a baby carrot to the bowl.

He was doing his best to keep his mind on track instead of further descending into a train wreck, and he figured the next thing he had better do was call in to apologize and promise he was on his way. As soon as the phone stopped ringing, he had hardly gotten a chance to open his mouth before a voice spoke up from the other end.

"Look, I'm just gonna save you some time. Yes, we're booked solid until after the New Year, no, it will not change anything if you say that your problem is urgent, and if I hear _one _more person complain about how those thermal beverage mugs are turning their drinks green because they couldn't bother to wash the slime out…"

He shut his eyes again, and did his best to force back a groan. At the moment, the mere thought of that putrid green slime was enough to make his stomach turn a summersault.

"Louis? That you?"

"Hi. I, uh… I know I'm pretty late…"

Even if he couldn't see, he could easily imagine the way she'd be smiling at him and giving a faint shake of her head. "Don't worry about it. I figured you'd probably need to sleep things off a little after last night." She interrupted him, the earlier irritation completely gone from her voice. "Why don't you just take the morning off, and you can come in the afternoon if you feel up to it. I can manage to hold down the fort around here for a little while."

He felt like maybe he should insist that he was fine, but the idea of having time to dive back into bed for awhile and then get a shower once he was feeling a little more like himself was much too tempting.

"Thanks." He responded, the gratitude very evident in his voice.

"It's no problem. You holding up okay?"

"Yeah, I'm doing okay. I just got Gibbs his breakfast."

There was a curious silence for a few moments. "Gibbs?"

In spite of the fact that he felt like his head was being shredded, a little of his usual perky attitude was starting to shine through. "Yeah, that's what I'm calling my hamster. I named him after the Commissioner of the IRS."

There was a small noise, which he thought sounded like a short breath of laughter.

"Of course you did."

They exchanged a few more minutes of pleasantries, but it wasn't long before she had to get back to work, and he wasn't all that up for conversations yet anyway. He did already feel better though. Still very, _very_ terrible, but better.

He did always like talking with people. But with Janine it was… different. Special. Maybe it was just because he admired her a lot, and it was nice to know that someone like her thought he was worth giving him the time of day. And she did more than just notice that he was there, she actually went out of her way to find time to spend with him. And there was the way he didn't have to pound on the door and yell until someone heard him every time he had to step out for something, because she'd learned that he would always manage to lock himself out and would be there to let him back in. She didn't even seem annoyed about it, either.

Really, he didn't think he could even count the reasons she made him look forward to coming in to work every day. And he still didn't know how to describe the way she often made him feel. It was like a happiness that pounded in his chest, and made him sure that he couldn't stop smiling even if he wanted to try. More and more, he'd found himself thinking about the times their eyes would happen to meet, or when their hands would brush over the paperwork, or when he realized he was happy to wait all day just for the chance of a few minutes to talk to her, or…

Oh.

It… it was…

_Oh._


	12. Chapter 12

Louis could remember a time when he was younger and he'd gotten to spend the day at Coney Island. He hadn't really gotten to pick any of the rides, and he'd mostly been dragged along to all of the rollercoasters. And of the ones he'd actually been tall enough to get on instead of just waiting by the entrance, he could remember what it felt like pretty vividly. He remembered always starting out feeling confident that it was going to be perfectly fine. Enjoyable, even. And then everything would turn into an out-of-control blur, and he'd find himself wondering what on earth he'd been thinking. But by then it was always far too late to back out, so all he could do was sit there while his heart hammered in his throat. And he also remembered never quite learning his lesson and always being willing to give it another go, no matter how many times the same thing happened all over again.

That was what talking to Janine was starting to feel like.

He could never bring himself to avoid her. He always wanted to talk to her so badly, especially now that he felt like he was bursting with more things to say than ever. But as soon as he tried, he could swear the ability to form a decent sentence fled his mind even faster than the way the car always went screeching out of the fire station.

He didn't even want to know what she had to be thinking about him. He'd lost track of the amount of times he'd wound up awkwardly stammering out some excuse about getting back to work and scrambling away as he tried to hide a deeply red face by pretending to be buried in looking at forms. Did she know what was on his mind? He'd only realized it himself a short time ago. How could she know? But there was something in the little smirk she'd get when she looked at him that made him worry she knew exactly what all of his nervous fumbling was all about.

And of course, that left him with another issue. Thinking about it was one thing. But how was he supposed to know what to _do_? He seriously didn't have the first clue. Knowing whether or not someone was interested had never exactly been his strong suit. If he didn't know better, he'd think that maybe the way she looked at him was the sort of look people got when they thought something was charming. Possibly even 'she might say yes if I asked her out' levels of charming. But past experience made him think that he really should know better. Maybe that look was just because he was making such a fool of himself she thought it was funny.

More than ever, Louis found himself wishing he were more like the guys he worked for. At the moment, he particularly wished he were a little more like Dr. Venkman. He never seemed to have these sorts of problems talking to anyone. So when Dr. Venkman himself had wandered into the main office of the fire station, Louis was doing his best to learn by example.

"So, eight, right? What time were you figuring on getting there?"

"You know, I don't recall actually agreeing to babysitting." Janine reminded him after only briefly glancing up from the work littering her desk. "You could at least ask before assuming I'm free."

Dr. Venkman leaned casually against one of the many cabinets lining the wall, distractedly taking a bite out of the apple from his lunch. From across the room, Louis glanced over and tried to mimic the posture. His elbow couldn't quite reach the top of the filing cabinet next to him.

"Well you are free, aren't you? Might as well pick up a few bucks, right?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I might want to make plans for myself?"

Louis settled for leaning against the wall, and wondered if he should go grab his lunchbox. Somehow, it always seemed to make people look more confident when they were eating an apple.

"Everything's booked solid by now anyway. You'd have to spend a fortune to get a table anywhere."

"Well _some_ people know how to put something nice together _without_ spending a fortune."

She looked up across the room, and Louis instinctively stepped away from the wall and jammed his hands into his pockets.

"Bet you'd know how to show a girl a good time, huh Louis?"

She was giving him that funny look again. Was it supposed to be some sort of joke? He wasn't quite sure whether to smile or look embarrassed, and the corner of his mouth twitched into an expression that was somewhere between before he found a spot off in the corner to stare at.

"Well, I, uh… I don't know… probably not…"

Dr. Venkman glanced over, a vaguely thoughtful expression on his face as he waved a hand and gestured to a spot roughly above Louis's head. "Anybody else hear a giant _whoosh_ noise right about there?"

Janine sent an unamused look in her boss's direction.

"I'll get back to you about tomorrow night."

Dr. Venkman shrugged, but took the hint and soon meandered his way out of the room again. So… it was just him and Janine. Alone. Together. Hanging out in the rare occasion of a quiet room. Which meant he was probably supposed to say something. But what, though? He supposed… he could… maybe… Oh geez, she was staring at him.

…aaand he was face-to-face with a bunch of papers again. He was so bad at this. How was he so bad at this?

* * *

He was already feeling as if nothing at all was turning out well for him when his lunch break came around. Honestly, he didn't even have it in him to be surprised when he once again found everything he'd packed being dumped down the gullet of the giant slime ball. The ghost dropped everything and bolted the moment it noticed him, making a sound that Louis thought sounded like some sort of self-satisfied laughter.

He reached down to where his now-empty lunchbox had clattered to the floor, and noted that the ghost didn't seem to have gotten around to anyone else's food yet. As usual, it had gone for his first. Louis was absolutely sure that thing was doing it on purpose.

"Does it have to be mine?" He shouted in the direction the ghost had disappeared through the wall, giving his slime-covered lunchbox an angry rattle. "Does it always have to be mine?"

That same laughter came from somewhere off in the distance.

"Alright, that does it."

Throughout all of his attempts to finally catch that thing, it had proven to be a lot faster and craftier than he expected. Still, he wasn't willing to give up yet. The way he saw it, he had two problems he needed to handle. And in his opinion, it was always best to get a simpler problem out of the way first. That meant talking to Janine could wait, and it was time to deal with the flying abomination that liked to eat everything in its path.

* * *

Louis knew that those proton pack things the guys wore seemed to be an important part of their job. And if he wanted to finally get rid of that ghost once and for all, it seemed like he'd have to stop resorting to trying to chase it into a trap and finally strap on a pack himself. He just wished he had a little more experience with these sorts of gadgets. He didn't suppose it worked much like a calculator.

Feeling determined to be as prepared as possible, he had also decided to attach a bike mirror to his glasses so he could see behind him at all times. Feeling much better equipped, he proceeded to go prowling around the building on a hunt for his lunch-stealing nemesis.

"Okay, Stink-Man…" He continued his running narration as he carefully crept down the staircase. "It's just you and me, pal. 'Couple of guys looking for each other, only one of us did a wee bit better on their SATs."

He jumped off the last step, and found himself stumbling as he struggled to maintain his balance. Those packs really were heavy.

He wandered into the cluttered main office, every sense on high alert. A door creaked open, and the heavy weight on his back was likely the only reason he didn't jump out of his skin. He wondered how the people in those film noir movies that played on late night TV always kept such a cool head in these situations. But he'd have to try and figure out, because he needed to keep a grip. This could finally be the moment.

He didn't dare to turn around, but carefully adjusted the small mirror in an attempt to get a better view. It was hard to make much out on the tiny, wobbly little mirror, but he was sure he spotted movement.

"Okay Buddy-Boy, I got you scoped." He muttered to himself as he switched on the proton pack, eyes widening as it hummed to life. It felt a lot more powerful than he anticipated, and he found himself wondering how easy it would be to control. He already knew the ghost was fast, and he probably wouldn't get a second shot. It would be best to get his target as close as possible. Time to employ deception tactics.

"Oh, Mr. pizza delivery man! What're you doing here?" That seemed believable, right? He was sure it was the sort of thing that would get the ghost rushing into the room. "Pepperoni and pineapple? I guess I'll have to eat these both by myself!"

He spotted movement again, and with that, he whirled around and opened fire. The stream arced wildly through the room, causing a lamp to go up in a huge burst of sparks and smoke as a few papers went fluttering off their desks, as if startled into jumping into the air.

A high-pitched shriek rang out, and a red-bobbed head ducked for cover. Horrified at realizing what he spotted hadn't been the ghost at all, Louis frantically scrambled to turn the pack off.

"Janine! Are you okay? Sorry, it was an accident!"

She placed a hand over her chest as she struggled to catch her breath again, but otherwise looked fine. Just to be sure, Louis did his best to rush over, stumbling into nearly everything in his path in the process.

Much to his relief, she didn't look angry. "Louis, you gave me a heart attack, what are you doing there?" She asked, not snapping like he would have expected, but sounding almost concerned.

"Well, I was just trying to catch that stinky green guy." He explained as he struggled with the gate in front of him. Why were there so many barriers in this place?

She glanced briefly around the room, probably noting that the ghost in question wasn't anywhere nearby, but she was nice enough not to point it out. Instead, she waved a hand in a nonchalant gesture. "Oh, he's alright."

Having finally made his way over, Louis couldn't help smiling as he fidgeted with the nozzle of the proton pack. Heavy as it was, there was something about wearing one of those things that made him feel like he was maybe sort of a little cool. And the fact that Janine hadn't laughed at the way he looked helped boost his confidence further.

"I'm like the fifth Ghostbuster." He stated proudly. She'd started giving him that look again, the possibly 'she thinks I'm charming' but probably not look.

Janine smoothed down her dress a few times, and then leaned against the table behind her. "Why would you wanna be a Ghostbuster if you're already an accountant?"

That was something he found even harder to explain. No one ever seemed to talk about his life as if it was something worth admiring. She couldn't possibly think who he was could be better than being a Ghostbuster, could she? Maybe it was just some sort of playful teasing.

"Well… what if one of the guys gets sick? Or wants to go on an extended vacation, huh?" He attempted to justify himself. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, he started sliding his arms out of the straps attaching the heavy pack to his back. "Do me a favor, don't tell anybody about this, okay? My training is secret."

"Oh, sure." She responded earnestly. With only one strap still over his shoulder, Louis began heading off to put the proton pack back where he'd found it. But to his surprise, she rushed after him and stopped him after only a few steps. "Have you made any plans yet? I mean, you know, tomorrow night's New Year's Eve."

He found himself glancing away, struggling to figure out why she would be asking. "Well, I usually celebrate New Year's at the end of my corporate tax year, on March first. That way I avoid the crowds."

Out of the corner of his eye, which was as close as he dared to look, he could see her smile grow wider, showing that strange look even more clearly. "That's very practical. I hate going out on New Year's myself." She paused for a moment, almost as if she was expecting something. When he didn't say any more, he was pretty sure he saw her smile fade. "Goodnight."

She said the last word almost dejectedly, already turning to walk away. "Goodnight." Louis called after her, but she didn't seem to hear him, or maybe she just didn't notice. He soon found himself alone in the room, the building empty except for the fading echo of her footsteps.

He wanted to kick himself. He still felt like he didn't have a clue what he was doing, but he was sure that he was doing absolutely everything wrong. This was so hard. How did other people do this?

Maybe he should just go find a form to fill out somewhere. At least he was pretty sure he could trust himself to manage that.


	13. Chapter 13

There were a lot of things Louis liked about his line of work. Numbers were easy to understand. Dealing with them had a clear set of rules to follow, and they always behaved exactly the same way. There was something very soothing about dealing with a bunch of neat little rows and columns, where all he had to worry about was making sure everything was in the right place and it all added up correctly.

But there were also times when being soothing turned into being mind-numbingly boring.

He couldn't stand this quiet all night. He liked it when there was noise and commotion going on. Every little tap of his foot that echoed through the large room with nothing to drown it out made him feel like the emptiness of the room was about to swallow him whole. But trying to go home for the night hadn't exactly worked out very well, so he was still staying there. He needed someone to talk to, but in terms of someone he could get advice from, there wasn't another living soul around. But even so, that didn't mean he was exactly alone.

Since his lunch rarely made it until noon, he'd long since taken to hiding snacks throughout the firehouse in the hope that at least some of them would escape notice. As luck would have it, one stashed-away box was still untouched. Of course, there was the issue of it being practically a box full of rocks by that point. He was sure his cousins meant well, but the two of them never seemed to realize that doughnuts didn't last long enough to be shipped all the way from Canada to New York. Not to mention that anything they sent him always reeked of beer and cigarettes. But he'd once seen the ghost eat a can of berry-scented air freshener, so he figured it wasn't very picky.

At the very least, the giant green thing did seem to appreciate the rare occasion of someone sharing food willingly. As long as Louis kept a steady stream of snacks flowing, it was content to hover quietly nearby and not interrupt its talkative new source of food.

"It was always easier with Dana, I guess."

The ghost began to make a few restless noises, and Louis distractedly pulled another doughnut from the box and tossed it over.

"I'd always look at her and get this funny feeling, sort of like a tugging in my gut. Like a sense that something was going to happen. But I guess that was always about the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster, not the two of us."

If it had occurred to him that the only reason he had an audience was because he was bribing the ghost into listening, it didn't seem to matter much to him.

"And now… I really have no clue if I have any hope that anything's gonna happen. I just know that I really want it to. And I mean, I've already looked into all of the company guidelines. Well, the closest sort of stuff I could find, at least. A lot of stuff isn't very organized around here, by the way. Half of it's just scribbled on the back of take out wrappers. But anyway, I couldn't find anything saying that two employees aren't allowed to date each other."

The ghost grew a little louder again, and Louis once again obliged the request for more food.

"Maybe it's just common sense, 'cause everyone knows how complicated that sort of thing can get. But I just… I don't care." He paused to shake his head and let out a small laugh, as if he could hardly believe what he was saying. "I really don't care. It's _Janine_, ya know? It's like I look at her, and whatever makes the most sense doesn't matter anymore. Like maybe things can actually be more than I expect them to be. I just wish I knew what to do. I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

He looked up at the ghost, but it was too busy happily gnawing away in a manner not dissimilar to a dog chewing on a bone.

"Well, thanks for listening anyway."

He glanced down at the box again, and found something else tucked into the bottom under the thinned-out pile of doughnuts. He spent a few moments wondering why he'd been sent an empty beer bottle, at least until he located a note written in two different sets of handwriting, with enough things scribbled out that it looked like the writers had been bickering with each other the whole time. He made out something about how he should try putting his new pet inside to see if it would get him free stuff.

He was still trying to make sense of the jumbled scribblings when his thoughts were interrupted with a voice stating, "You know, we're gonna have to start charging you rent if you keep spending the night here all the time."

His first reaction at hearing actual words was to send a shocked glance at his newfound ghost companion, but it was still busy making sure it gobbled up every last crumb. He stood up and whirled around, and found that he must have been so absorbed in getting things off his chest that he hadn't noticed someone come in.

"Dr. Venkman? What're you doing here?"

His boss shrugged as he pulled his coat off and tossed it in a heap on a nearby chair. "Came to crash here for a few hours before work. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have them there, but babies do not _sleep_."

Louis rocked nervously on his feet, sending a quick glance at everything sitting on his desk. He'd planned on having a little more time to tuck things away somewhere out of notice before anyone showed up. Dr. Venkman followed his gaze, and his expression grew first confused, and then a little more serious at the sight of the small bag and the hamster cage.

"Louis, is everything alright? I thought you had a place to go after work."

"No, it's not like that. I still have an apartment." He looked away with an embarrassed smile, and stuck his hands into his pockets just to make one more confirmation that he hadn't missed anything in there. "The, uh… the landlord just says I can't be trusted with any more keys until the locksmith gets back from his Christmas vacation."

By that point, the ghost had once more found itself empty-handed, and began making its gibberish noises again. Louis decided to pass over everything left in the box, and it eagerly snatched it up and went whizzing off into the distance. A few papers fluttered in its wake, and Dr. Venkman picked up the one that landed at his feet.

"'Operation: take out'?"

He definitely needed to stop labeling his plans. He was just grateful he hadn't come up with any good ideas and had wound up crossing everything but the title out. But it seemed that had only piqued his boss's curiosity.

"So, would that be 'take out' as in you're ordering Chinese, or are you planning to murder someone?"

Louis awkwardly gave a half-hearted shrug. Truth be told, it was sort of an umbrella plan for everything he had hoped to get done in a short amount of time. He didn't want to just help himself to raiding the fridge while he was hanging out, but that part would have to wait until more places were open. There had also been his hopes of finally capturing the ghost, but he was well past the point of giving up on that. And then there was one other thing that made him even more worried to think about, but he was finding more and more that it was the only thing on his mind. But even if he didn't say it, Dr. Venkman hadn't quite finished with him.

"Or maybe we're talking about you trying to take out a certain secretary?"

Louis didn't answer, but his eyes trailed forlornly to the empty desk across the room, which was more than enough to answer the question.

Dr. Venkman was finding it a little odd that the usually talkative accountant had fallen so silent, but chalked it up to it being late and went back to heading towards the staircase.

"Well, hope it all turns out well."

"It's not gonna."

Dr. Venkman looked back over his shoulder, and saw Louis sink into a chair and pull his knees to his chest, a creaking noise starting to fill the room as he rocked back and fourth.

"I can't… I can't catch a ghost, I can't talk to people right, I-I can't… I _can't…_"

Dr. Venkman gave a brief sigh, and gave up on the idea of getting to sleep quickly. "Are you sure everything's alright? 'Cause you kinda look like you're falling apart."

Louis let out a miserable groan and buried his face in his hands. "I know, please just let me."

"Do you want a drink or something?"

He slowly managed a deep breath, and then nodded. "Y-yeah, okay… that's a good idea."

He shakily pulled himself to his feet and made his way over to the fridge, rifling through his small corner for a moment before he found what he was looking for. He returned with a clear plastic bottle, and Dr. Venkman took a quick glance and then had to fight the urge to roll his eyes.

"I didn't mean mineral water."

Louis didn't seem to be listening, and Dr. Venkman shrugged as if to say, 'Oh, never mind,' and went to grab himself a beer.

For a while, the two of them lingered in silence. It was Louis who broke it first, which his boss took as a good sign.

"Dr. Venkman… do you remember when we were all in that courtroom? A-and I didn't know what I was doing, and I'm pretty sure the only time the anyone was on our side was when you were on the stand. And I lived down the hall from Dana for a long time, but she never… and with you it didn't take very long, and… I guess I just wondered, what am I doing wrong?"

Dr. Venkman let out an almost bitter-sounding chuckle. "Trust me, I'm not the one you wanna go to for life advice. I'm still trying to undo the last time I screwed everything up."

Louis cocked his head curiously. "I thought you guys were seeing each other again. That's good, right?"

"I wouldn't exactly say… well, we're still seeing where everything goes, I guess." He let out a slow breath, one that sounded more exhausted than Louis would have expected. "The crying all night wasn't even that bad. I guess it just kept getting me thinking about how I could've been used to it all by now."

Louis leaned forward against his desk, defeatedly resting his head against his fist. "Love is hard."

"I'll drink to that." Dr. Venkman cracked a small smile and reached out to clink his bottle against Louis's, though the actual sound produced was more of a dull _thunk_. After a long swig, he continued with, "Look Louis, it's too late and I'm too tired to start spouting all that 'believe in yourself' stuff you see on motivational posters. So let me just tell you that once you've got a good thing going, you don't want to let doubts get the best of you so much that you ruin it."

Louis wasn't quite sure what to say in response, but it seemed his boss was finished talking anyway.

"Alright, I'm gonna go hit the sack already. Try not to make a racket down here, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

The next day, it didn't seem as if Janine was upset anymore. But even if she'd put the previous night behind her, Louis knew that he definitely hadn't. She didn't seem to mind the idea of celebrating in March, but he'd drive himself insane if he had to wait that long. It was New Years Eve, there was a girl he was crazy about, and he was going to ask her out. People did that sort of thing all the time, and so could he.

Probably.

The problem was, the right time never seemed to come. Quiet moments didn't happen often. There were a few of them, but even those didn't seem to be the right moment. Namely because the instant those moments came, the whole idea suddenly became massively terrifying. There was a very big difference between resolving to do something and actually doing it, as he was finding out very well. By the end of the day, he'd decided that March first wasn't such a bad idea after all. Then he'd be able to form a real plan and map out everything he wanted to say, and it would probably make the whole thing easier.

But then they were heading out for the day, and…

"Should I take the subway, or surface roads, or what? It's kinda busy out…"

"Well, I'm walking. Goodnight."

And there she was, walking away from him again, just like the night before. Leaving him feeling like he was missing his chance all over again. She sounded more cheerful this time, and he really had no reason to worry. But worrying was what he did, and making impulsive decisions in a panic was too.

He chased after her, frantically stumbling over his words until she stopped in the crosswalk for him to catch up.

"Do you maybe wanna… no, no…"

The worrying thing had downsides too. What was he _doing_? And more importantly, how did he make it stop? She was looking at him and waiting for him to finish what he was trying to say, and his mind had just gone very, very blank.

Truth be told, his reliance on having a plan was probably what made him go through with it. Because right now, he was pretty sure the only thing that kept him from trying to come up with some clever excuse and darting away again was that he was helplessly clinging to the closest thing to a plan he had.

"Do you wanna have something to eat with me?"

The look she gave him wasn't pity, which was a huge relief, but the fact that she didn't exactly light up made his heart sink.

"Well yeah, I'd love that, but I promised Dr. Venkman I'd babysit for him."

He'd almost forgotten about that whole thing. It was all his fault. He'd gotten nervous and waited too long, and now he'd missed his chance.

But then she asked, "Do you wanna babysit with me?"

He looked up from the street and found that she seemed a little nervous as well, as if she was feeling apologetic about offering a not very traditional sort of date. But honestly, he was much too concerned with the 'date' part to care about any of the other details.

"Okay, I would."

That time, she actually did light up.

"Great, his place at eight. Bye!"

He did it. He did it? He really did it? And she'd said yes?

Some part of him wasn't quite convinced that everything had actually just happened. He almost expected to run into a wall of glass any second. But he was sure he just needed a moment for it to sink in. After making sure the suddenly honking and shouting cars they'd backed up didn't run him over.


	14. Chapter 14

Though he didn't really have any experience with looking after a baby, Louis was relieved to find that it didn't seem all that different from taking care of his hamster. Of course, babies did involve changing diapers instead of changing bedding, but otherwise it was the same basic principle of making sure they were fed, happy, and safe.

Although it did turn out that the whole bedtime routine was a lot more complicated. Gibbs usually just burrowed under a pile of wood shavings and sawdust and then didn't come out again until he wanted to be fed. But even if it was getting late for a baby to still be up, Oscar didn't seem to want to go to bed. He was starting to see what Dr. Venkman had been talking about.

"I hope nothing's wrong with the little guy." Louis finally voiced his concerns out loud as he stopped pacing the floor to walk over to Janine, all while bouncing Oscar gently in his arms in an attempt to get the fussing to quiet down. The baby hadn't actually started crying yet, but looked as if he might start soon. "Do you think everything's okay? He looks tired but he won't go to sleep."

Janine stood up to help him check, and Oscar continued making unhappy noises while she felt for a fever. After a moment, she stated, "He feels normal. I don't think he's sick."

That was a relief, at least. But he still wanted to figure out something he could do, so he started running through a mental checklist of everything he'd learned you were supposed to do when looking after something. Oscar had already happily eaten the can of strained peas that had been left in the fridge, so he probably wasn't hungry. He was still clean since the last time his diaper had been changed, so that wasn't it either. What other sort of stuff did he have to worry about with his hamster?

Well, there was the fact that you were supposed to make sure they had stuff to bite on to help with their teeth. Louis knew that he wasn't an expert on babies, but he wondered if Oscar was at the age when he would be teething.

"Maybe he needs something to chew on." He suggested. He glanced down at the table, and then decided to tear a piece of crust off the pizza they'd been eating. It seemed to do the trick, because the fussing quieted down almost immediately after Oscar began gnawing on it with the beginnings of a few teeth.

Louis was finding that he was glad they hadn't been able to have a more regular sort of date. He'd always really liked the idea of having a family, but he'd never realized how much he actually enjoyed this sort of thing until he got a chance to try it. Even if it was his first time, it felt surprisingly natural to be sitting around with Janine and taking care of a baby together. He wondered if…

Well, he supposed it was still much to early to be thinking about that sort of thing. But it would be a nice thought to revisit later on.

A few more minutes of pacing the floor and a quick bedtime story later, and Oscar finally seemed ready to be put down for the night. He didn't quite manage to get through the whole story, but he was pretty sure he covered all of the important parts.

"You're very good with children." Janine noted as he came back into the living room.

"Thanks, I practiced on my hamster."

It occurred to him that they'd spent most of the night until then focused on looking after Oscar. He liked babysitting, but he also liked the idea of getting to relax and talk to each other. Though he suddenly found himself feeling the opposite of relaxed when he glanced over, and something about the way Janine was playing with the bauble she'd picked up made his heart beat faster.

"So, you live alone?"

He tried to tell himself to calm down, and just focus on talking to her. They talked all the time, it was fine. Sure, it hadn't been on a _date_ before, but… never mind, just say _something_.

"I used to have a roommate, but my mom moved to Florida."

He was sure things seemed to be going fine. They were just having a conversation, like they had every day since he'd met her. Why did he feel like he had a million butterflies swooping around in his stomach? This date thing was actually something people did for fun? This was not fun! This was stressful!

"Why don't you come over here and sit with me?"

He glanced over to see Janine patting the spot next to her on the couch, and was relieved that she didn't seem to have noticed how nervous he felt, or at least didn't seem to mind.

"Okay."

It was going fine. He was sure it was going fine. He had to just stay calm, and figure out what to do next.

"So, you wanna play Boggle, or Super Mario Brothers?"

"You know…" She paused, waiting to make sure he looked up to meet her eyes. "I think motherhood's a very natural instinct."

He supposed maybe he hadn't been the only one who started thinking about that sort of thing. Maybe babysitting was just something that couldn't help but put it on your mind.

"I'd like a child myself. Would you?"

As he found her leg hooked over his, Louis was starting to feel very, very confused as he tried to make sense of the sort of attention she was giving him. But even so, he got the sense that she was talking about more than just dreams for the future.

"T-tonight?"

She reached out, running a hand along his ear, and…

Hey, this date thing _was_ fun.

* * *

As the evening went on, Louis was sure that without a doubt, this was the greatest night of his entire life. Okay, so he hadn't exactly counted on Dana coming back earlier than expected, but things turned out alright. Janine still didn't want to leave, and he couldn't begin to describe how happy he was that she still wanted to spend _more_ time with him. At the moment, he wasn't sure how he'd ever lived before she was in his life.

Even once they wound up sitting around watching a movie, he felt that things had never been better. Watching a black-and-white rerun was much better when you had someone real and full of color in your arms. But even as he tried to settle in and enjoy the moment, there was one question that kept running through his mind. And if he was going to ask, he knew it would have to be before Dana finished checking on Oscar and came back out again.

"Janine…" He almost didn't want to say anything at all. Everything seemed so perfect right now. But it was something he really wanted to know, and he couldn't relax until he did. He knew he would feel crushed if the answer was no, but he still had to know. "A-are you and I… you know, are we…?"

The few moments of waiting for a response had him feeling more nervous than he'd ever felt around her before. And you couldn't exactly hide things like a catch in your breath or the way you were fidgeting nervously when someone was nestled in your arms and leaning back against your chest. He almost started to lean away a little, but she gently took his wrists and pulled him even closer around her.

"Yes, Louis." She let out a contented sigh, one that she could feel matched his own. "Yes."

Now the night was definitely perfect. There was a time when he might have found it hard to believe her and kept worrying anyway. But he was fully planning on listening to the advice he'd gotten, and he wasn't going to let himself ruin it now that he had a good thing going. An _amazing_ thing going. He was positive that nothing that could make this night go wrong.

* * *

It soon turned out he maybe should have known better than to think that sort of thing.

He was sure he was getting more used to ghosts, even the ones besides Slimer. And he was really trying to do better at not panicking at the sight of them. But when he caught the glare of glowing red eyes and nearly hit his head against the window behind him, he was suddenly dealing with a lot of horrible memories swirling up again. Memories of the time that red glow had come from the face of a snarling demon, all while glass pressed against his back and blocked his escape. It was like a sort of taunt, reminding him just how small and helpless he really was. And even if he had the first clue what to do, he couldn't manage to do anything but stand there frozen and gape as some sort of spirit made off with the defenseless little kid.

He… he had to… but he couldn't… he couldn't… those _eyes_…

Even after it left, he could barely manage to think straight. He was trying so hard to be calm enough to figure something out, but he could hardly focus on anything but the horrible feelings of panicked dread as Dana scooped up her coat and ran out towards the museum. He felt like he was fighting between two desperate desires, one to know exactly what he needed to do and run out to do it, and the other to curl up in the corner and give in to the panic clawing at his mind.

Janine looked almost as scared and confused as he felt, but standing next to her helped a little to center him. Finally, he knew one thing for certain, and it was that something had to be done _soon_. And as frantic as he was to do something to help, he couldn't trust himself to be the one to do it.

"We gotta find the guys."


	15. Chapter 15

As it turned out, fixing things wasn't as simple as finding where the guys were. Because after a few phone calls, they found out that where they were happened to be locked up in a psychiatric hospital.

On the bright side, they had managed to get there in a hurry. It turned out that Janine did have a car, even if she didn't use if much. Louis wasn't entirely sure if she was out of practice or if that was just how she usually drove. He probably shouldn't complain, seeing as he didn't have much idea how to work a car himself. And he supposed she was rather good at it, at least if you were judging by how fast she could get where you were trying to go. In terms of criteria more along the lines of 'keeps all four tires on the ground when going around a corner,' not quite so much. Again, he didn't want to complain, it was just…

"Louis? You alright there?"

Janine had already climbed out of the car after they'd swerved to a stop in front of the building, and looked back to find that he still hadn't moved.

He managed a shaky thumbs up, and then sharply turned away to press a fist to his mouth. He was glad it was dark out, because he was pretty sure his face had to be very visibly turning green.

"I'm gonna go see what we're dealing with, okay?"

"Yeah, good idea. You go on ahead." He muttered, more to himself than anyone, as she was already rushing inside. "I'm just… I'm gonna stay here. Probably not move for awhile…"

He let his head fall limply back against the seat and closed his eyes, at least until he heard a small rattle in his pocket. After checking in his coat, he quickly began thanking several-hours-ago-Louis for being a nervous wreck about his first date and making sure to pack generic brand Dramamine. At least that was enough to make him fairly confident that the pizza he ate for dinner wasn't going to reappear. Wouldn't _that_ be a great memory to add to the night? But then again, he supposed things couldn't go much more off the rails than they already had.

Janine returned several minutes later, the frustrated look on her face suggesting that it hadn't gone entirely well.

"Alright, I've got good news and bad news." She announced. "Bad news is they've got a bunch of jerks at the front desk, and there's no way they're gonna let us take the guys out of there."

Louis leaned forward as a mischievous glint started to appear in her eyes. "What's the good news?"

She reached into her coat, and fished out a ring of keys that she proudly spun around on her finger. "Grabbed these."

* * *

Louis had spent enough time watching movies to be pretty familiar with the idea of going undercover for an infiltration mission. Of course, the people in those movies always seemed calm and remarkably suave, with an air of relaxed confidence. And he was really really trying to be the same way instead of grinning and bouncing in his seat, but this was so exciting!

"Okay, I think we're about ready. You got the plan down?"

Janine glanced up from tying a third knot into the string holding the ring of keys around his wrist, and he nodded eagerly.

"I go in, act like I work there until I can figure out where they are in the building, and then we all make a break for it together."

"See if you can find a clipboard or some papers to walk around with. People tend to be less likely to question someone who looks busy." She seemed to decide that the string was secure, but still didn't release his hand, and instead switched to distractedly tracing lines on his palm. "So, what do you wanna call this? 'Operation: Bavarian Fire Drill,' maybe?"

He glanced away as an embarrassed smile crept across his face. He did think it was a cool name though, so he still nodded a second later.

Janine sat there silently, her eyes tracing over his face. He puffed out his cheeks and then let out a nervous breath as he unconsciously drummed a hand against his leg. She was still staring at him, _why was she staring at him_? He scrambled to find something that felt natural to do and wound up reading the numbers on her dashboard. She was due for an oil change soon. He wondered if he should remind her so she didn't end up paying for engine repairs. He had only just opened his mouth to speak, but he stiffened and his breath caught as a finger began to trail up his chest, traveling upward until it hooked into the collar of his sweater. He didn't quite realize what she was doing until he felt a gentle tug, but the meaning of that look she was giving him finally clicked, and he was all too eager to loosen up again and let her pull him in. With everything that happened that night, it had nearly slipped his mind that they were really _together_ now. Being pulled in for a kiss served as a very nice reminder.

She moved away again after a few moments, leaving him grinning even wider than before with the dashboard quite forgotten.

"Just for luck." She explained as she reached out to pat a hand against his cheek. "You're gonna do great."

* * *

For a while, he felt confident that things were going pretty well. At first he was a little worried about escaping notice as he wandered through the building. The more he saw people walking around in clean white uniforms, the more he felt he was dressed like a traffic cone. But even so, no one gave him a second glance. Or even a first glance, really. It would seem the fact that almost no one ever noticed him was turning out to be a good thing for once. Sometimes he wondered if he was just so short that he was below everyone's line of vision.

It didn't take him too long to find his way to the patient records and locate a file that would tell him where the guys were being held. And it still wasn't long after when he made it to the right wing of the building. That was where things got more complicated. The cells might still work on an old-fashioned lock and key, but getting into the right hallway in the first place required an ID card to scan. And no matter how beneath notice he usually seemed, it could only be so long before a guard felt the need to investigate the sight of someone trying to trick their way through the door by swiping a crumpled old business card.

He really didn't have a good explanation for who he was or what he was doing there, and of course he had nothing to show when the guard demanded to see something proving his authorization. At that point, he figured his best option was to come clean. So he'd explained all about how he needed to get the Ghostbusters out because everything was going nuts and a bunch of stuff that wasn't supposed to be alive was roaming around New York, and most importantly his friend's baby had been carried off by some sort of ghost nanny with a flying stroller.

It turned out that was not a good thing to say to someone working in a mental institution.

* * *

"You can't keep us here! I know our rights! I demand you speak to our attorney!"

From somewhere behind him in the cell, Dr. Spengler lightly cleared his throat. "Louis, that would be you."

He paused to consider, and then went back to rattling the bars as the guard continued heading off into the distance. "I demand you get back here and speak to me!"

"Oh, give it a rest. These people aren't interested in hearing the truth." Dr. Zeddemore muttered defeatedly.

Louis was pretty sure the guys had largely given up hope, a suspicion that seemed more and more confirmed as the minutes ticked on. He tried coming up with a few ways to get out, though most of them would require some sort of paperwork that he had no way of getting access too. Admittedly, he'd gotten desperate enough to try using the Force at one point, but the keys hanging on the wall were staying firmly in place. At the very least, it had prompted Dr. Venkman to declare that he "wasn't staying locked up for years with these people" and renew his efforts of getting out.

While his boss was busy with whatever plan he was trying next, Louis had taken to pacing the floor as he tried to think everything through. Janine had to be getting worried that they weren't out by now. The people at the front desk already knew who she was, so she couldn't exactly go sneaking around the way he had. But maybe she'd still come up with something? He hoped so, because he really didn't think he was cut out for life behind bars. It never looked very pleasant on tv.

"Venkman, I really don't think you can pick the lock with a plastic spork." Dr. Stantz tried to interrupt his friend's escape attempts. "It doesn't even fit into the keyhole."

"Well they snap every time I try to eat anything, so as long as it's refusing to be used for it's intended purpose, I'm going to make it be useful for _something_." After a few more frustrated moments of struggling with the lock, he angrily muttered something under his breath and then glanced back into the cell. "What on earth is jingling in here? I can't focus with that noise going on."

Louis had noticed it himself, but he figured there had been more important things to worry about it. But now that he thought about it, it did seem to be coming from awful close to wherever he was standing. And it continued to sound close to him as he paced the room. Listening closer, he glanced down, and then stopped in place. The noise stopped as well. He reluctantly pulled his hand out of his pocket, and moved his arm up and down until something slid out and dangled from his sleeve.

He was cursed. When he came to keys, he was definitely cursed. He was officially convinced there was no other explanation. The one time they'd actually been tied to him and they managed to completely slip his mind.

"Alright, nobody get mad, okay?"

"Just give me those." Dr. Venkman muttered as he pulled them off Louis. At least he didn't quite sound angry so much as very impatient to get out.

However, it was at that moment the guard came back to the door of their cell, and Dr. Venkman hurriedly jammed the keys under a tray of food on the table. The guard didn't notice but had a key ring of his own, and he began unlocking the door.

"Good news, you boys are free to go. The mayor wants you back on the job."

"_Now_ he tells us."

* * *

Louis did his best to quickly explain everything that was going on while the guys hurried to suit up and rush out of the building. The mayor must have really been getting on everyone's case, because the people working there already had their car waiting for them the moment they stepped outside. It wasn't long until they were speeding off with the siren blaring, and he felt he could breathe a little easier with the hope that they'd manage to sort everything out. A little easier, but not completely. He supposed he should feel that he'd done everything he could and there was nothing else to do but sit back and wait. But even if he tried to tell himself that, it didn't seem to do any good.

A second later, a hand slipped in to his, and he was relieved to turn and meet a familiar pair of brown eyes. He started to open his mouth to explain why it had taken so long and that he hadn't done quite as well as she hoped. But she seemed to have some idea what he was going to say and shook her head to stop him. She squeezed his hand and offered a reassuring smile, as if to say all that mattered was that they were all out now. She was right, it was more important to focus on what to do next.

"So… now what?" He asked. The street was surprisingly still, especially as the siren faded into the distance, but somehow that only made him feel more restless.

"I don't know." Her brow creased with worry for a few seconds, but then shifted to a look of determination. "But I don't want to just stand around. They might need help."

"But what can we do?"

She paused for a moment, thinking hard. Finally, she stated, "We'll go back to the firehouse. They've got all their notes there, maybe we'll find something useful."

He nodded, and followed as she led him over to where she'd parked. Back to riding in the car, he supposed. He was going to need more Dramamine.


	16. Chapter 16

As soon as he and Janine burst through the doors, Louis knew that the room didn't have the usual kind of quiet, still feeling it always did when he was there at night. No matter how empty it was, it had the same sort of atmosphere as a crowded subway station with everyone pushing and shoving and rushing. The phone was ringing, and somehow managing to give off the unmistakable impression that it had been doing so for a long time and was impatient to be answered. Louis was starting to feel as if that sort of energy was settling over everything in the city, like it was all becoming restless and agitated.

'_Something's coming. Something's coming.'_

The thought ran through his head over and over, and he shook his head in an attempt to clear it out.

"I'll go see what they want." Janine stated as she nodded in the direction of the phone. "You start looking through the stuff upstairs, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded, and gave her hand one final squeeze before rushing off.

'_Something's coming. Something's coming.'_

He remembered having a similar feeling once before, one saying that even the idea of the world as he knew it was at risk of being yanked away. But he also remembered pushing that feeling aside and managing to drown it out in a roomful of music and guests and salmon from Nova Scotia. That feeling had been easy to brush aside when he was too busy being thrilled to have somebody, _anybody_ around. But then it had turned out he had every reason to be frightened.

_'Something's coming. Something's coming_.'

Not now. Just try to focus.

* * *

Janine had been hoping that the phone would just be ringing with some worried civilian demanding to know what was going on. Then she could have just told them to wait for the Ghostbusters to do their job and hung up. But the person calling had some position that seemed official enough that she really should deal with them, no matter how much it seemed like a waste of precious time. Even if it was nearly impossible to be patient with someone trying to question everything about how they were doing their job.

"Look, whatever they're doing down there, I'm sure it's all standard procedure."

She was past the point of being surprised by most things, but after listening for a moment she sent an almost bewildered glance at the receiver.

"They're driving what through the harbor?"

The person on the other end began shouting, which caused the look to narrow into a short-tempered glare.

"Well I don't care what your boss says, I can assure you we have everything completely under control here."

At that moment, a frantic shriek rang out from a room upstairs.

"The toaster's trying to kill me! _The toaster's trying to kill me!_"

"I'm gonna have to call you back."

* * *

It wasn't much later that Janine had calmly rescued a very panicked Louis and locked the suddenly bloodthirsty toaster in a filing cabinet, all while ranting under her breath about working for a bunch of guys with the IQ of geniuses and the common sense of frat boys. Louis had mostly calmed down again, but still wasn't quite ready to climb down from the pool table.

"The world's going crazy." He muttered as he examined the surprisingly bite-mark-like tears all over his clothes. He wouldn't have thought a household appliance had that kind of fight in it. "I think it's that slime. Everything it touches starts acting nuts."

"Well according to this, it's all over the city." Janine said with her nose buried in one of the many files scattered throughout the room. "Must be why everything seems more insane than usual."

Louis turned to the stack of papers sitting next to him and began searching as well. There had to be something saying how to help fix things. The problem was that most of it was a bunch of equations and formulas and scientific words that might as well have been a different language. For all he knew, he could have the answer staring him right in the face, but he could just as easily be reading the formula they'd been working on for how to get ectoplasm out of the sofa.

A lawyer. He'd just _had_ to be a lawyer. Why couldn't he have decided that he was passionate about chemistry? Sure, he could handle a tax code like nobody's business, but right now he would settle for just being able to figure out what P.K.E. stood for.

"You finding anything?"

They were both too busy reading as fast as the could to look up, but he shook his head out of habit.

"Nothing. You?"

"Nope."

That restless feeling was becoming thicker and thicker in the air of the room as the minutes ticked on. Louis tried to push himself to work faster, and found that it wasn't especially difficult. Reading could go pretty fast if you were just skimming things you didn't understand anyway.

He jumped a little at a sudden noise, and looked up to see that Janine had slammed one of the folders down on the table.

"Alright, I give up. There's nothing we can use here."

"There has to be…" Louis started to say before his voice wavered. "… doesn't there?"

She shook her head, and he felt his heart sink. She'd become the one he always turned to when he needed to know what to do next. And if she felt like it was time to give up, then…

She seemed to realize she was making him more worried, and made the effort to smile. "The guys are still out there. We'll just have to trust them."

It wasn't a thought she found especially reassuring, but she had some feeling Louis would. The corner of his mouth twitched, but didn't quite make it into a smile. It was a worrisome thing for her, too. He'd become the one she turned to for a reason to feel optimistic.

"Some night we're having." She remarked as she leaned against the pool table. "Not exactly romance and candlelight, huh?"

At that, he finally brightened again. "Oh, well I can fix that."

Grateful to finally have something to do, he carefully made his way back down to the floor and crossed the room towards one of the tall cabinets. He'd just run through inventory for insurance purposes not long ago, and after a few moments of stretching up on his toes to rummage around on a shelf, he pulled out one of their pieces of lab equipment.

It took him several minutes of tinkering to figure out exactly how to set up a Bunsen burner, but he finally found the right valve to use. A jet of hot blue fire shot up, and he hurriedly fumbled with the various moving parts until it settled into a more manageable-sized flame of a warm, friendly color.

He immediately looked over at Janine, positively beaming with the thought that he'd done something right for her. She couldn't help but smile in spite of herself. Slowly, never quite taking her eyes off the new source of light, she made her way over to him. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around one of his and rested her head against his shoulder. Her head felt a little clearer, as if just being near him helped to alleviate the thick dread hovering in the air. Here was that cheerfulness she'd desperately needed on a night like tonight.

"Everything's gonna be okay." Louis said in a voice full of certainty.

"You can't know that."

"No, I can't." He was forced to admit. He looked over as she held his arm a little tighter. "But I still think so."

"Why? I don't see how you can possibly still be feeling hopeful."

"Because…" He found it hard to put into words. All he knew was that he still had that nagging feeling that something bad was coming, but being there with her gave him a very different feeling, one that seemed even stronger. "Because tonight doesn't feel like an end. It feels like a beginning." He wasn't sure if he'd explained it very well, but it seemed enough for her, and he felt some of the tension leave her arms.

She moved a little farther away, just enough that she could look him in the face.

"You really never give up, do you Sunshine?"

He cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

"It's just… trust me, you're not the only everyday person we've rescued after they get caught up in this supernatural stuff. But once the job's over, they always just want to know that we've fixed it and they won't have to deal with it ever again. You're the only one who's ever wanted to come back for more."

He'd never really thought about it like that before, but Janine was looking at him like it was something she admired. And slowly, that look shifted into something else. The sort of look someone got when they had an idea. Unknowingly, her fingers tightened around his arm as something seemed to connect in her mind.

"Louis, you know all that talk the guys have been doing about positive energy and how it affects the slime?"

"Yeah, why?"

She sent a glance out the window, where they could just barely make out the city's usual background noises of yelling and snapping and impatience, all of it tinged with a layer of worry that night.

"I think we need to start getting some hope out there."

He might have asked how they could do that, but from the look in her eyes, he could tell she already had something in mind. "You've got a plan?"

She nodded, and seemed like she couldn't help but grin. "You're gonna like it."


	17. Chapter 17

That night, Louis was starting to realize that there was something about New Year's Eve he had never quite appreciated before. In the past, it was just one of those days when other people had plans and he didn't, and everywhere was so crowded that he couldn't get a table even if he wanted to do something besides sit around and eat dinner in his apartment by himself. But maybe the day meant more than that. Maybe all that stuff about new beginnings wasn't just the reason people's tax returns always seemed to show a gym membership in January that rarely lasted until March.

A new start. Didn't sound like such a bad thing. And even if they hadn't hit midnight yet, a lot of things were already changing for the better. Maybe once the next year came, he'd be ready to step into it with some bad things to leave behind and some great things to look forward to instead.

But first, he was going to have to make it through the rest of the night. And though he'd dreamt of this more times than he could count, he'd honestly never felt more ready. Something bad was coming again, but this was his chance to make things different. No panicking, and no running away this time.

Still, there was one thing that had managed to make a few doubts start creeping back in.

He didn't know what Janine was doing, but she'd told him to wait for a minute and wandered off. And while he was hanging around alone in the room, he'd caught a glimpse of the old TV tucked against the wall on one of those rolling stands. It was switched off, which meant that all he could see was a reflection of himself standing in the cluttered room. He thought about the usual sort of people you'd see in movies, especially the heroes of the story. They didn't look like him.

There were a lot of things about that he couldn't fix. He couldn't magically grow a foot taller, or bulk up all of a sudden, and he didn't have any change of clothes that might make him look less like an accountant who lost a fight to a toaster. There was one thing he figured he could try, so he pulled his glasses off, tucked them carefully into his pocket, and took another look. Or at least, he tried to.

Yikes, that was blurry. That was very blurry. Bad idea.

Well, he supposed it was alright for a Ghostbuster to have glasses. Dr. Spengler did, anyway.

As he slipped them back on and saw the world come back into focus, he tried to tell himself that none of it really mattered. All that was really important was whether or not he could do anything to help get the job done. It was just that he'd pictured plenty of times what this sort of moment would be like, and he'd always kinda imagined that he'd look like he belonged as part of the team. It was hard not to feel like he'd just be sort of a tagalong. Someone that didn't really belong there. Short but pointless.

But he supposed there was nothing he could do about it, so he tried not to let himself feel disappointed.

Janine returned a moment later, and he was confused when he saw her carrying one of the spare uniforms. She held the folded garment out to him with a self-satisfied smile, and the only explanation she offered was, "If you're gonna go out there, you're gonna need the right gear."

He'd always wanted to wear one of the jumpsuits. _Of course_ he'd always wanted to wear one. How could he not? But he was sure that anything she'd found in the closet would end up absolutely swimming on him. He wouldn't look like a Ghostbuster, he'd look ridiculous. But before he could start to ask any questions, she pushed the suit towards him, and his clumsy attempt at grabbing it resulted in the carefully folded bundle coming unfurled. And this time, it didn't result in an excess of fabric trailing on the ground.

It was his size. Meant for him. His uniform. His spot on the team.

"I didn't have time to get a new name tag made yet." Janine stated as a way to fill his awed silence. He didn't seem to notice she had said anything. He didn't seem to be noticing anything else at all. "You really don't care, do you?"

He didn't know whether he felt numb or so ecstatic he was going to burst. He did know that he was starting to feel a little dizzy. Why did he feel dizzy?

Janine's expression grew concerned, and she reached out to grab his arm. "Louis, _breathe_."

Oh, right. That was why.

He raised his eyes up at her, and look on his face told her everything she needed to know.

He felt something he hadn't for a long time. He felt sure of himself. He'd spent a lot of his life feeling small, in more ways than one. Thanks to her, he didn't have to.

* * *

Before long, he was almost ready to get out there and take on the threat facing the city.

Alright, so maybe it took a _little_ longer to start getting on his way than it needed to. He and Janine may have gotten sidetracked doing some other stuff in the closet. But in his defense, he probably wasn't going to be back for that sort of thing by the time the clock struck midnight. Really, it was just good sense to make sure he got things done ahead of time.

But in any case, he was soon suited up, and in the process of pulling on a proton pack. She started towards the stairs, and Louis began to follow, but hesitated and looked back into the room behind him. Janine also paused when she realized he wasn't behind her. He quickly turned back towards her, but she'd already seen where he'd been looking, and a knowing smirk appeared on her face.

"You wanna go down the fire pole, don't you?"

"Yes I do."

He seemed a little embarrassed, but was still looking at her with that smile she could never want to disappoint. She reached over and hefted the pack into her own arms.

"I'll meet you downstairs."

* * *

There were a lot less people out than usual, but New York was the kind of place that never seemed completely empty. That was one of his favorite things about the city. He made sure to wish everyone he passed a happy New Year, since he figured that the potential catastrophe about to occur was no reason not to be friendly.

He had yet to encounter any ghosts, or anything supernatural for that matter. That didn't mean he wasn't facing some other problems. It was definitely a crisp night, but he'd come prepared for that. Earmuffs weren't technically part of the standard gear, but that was another thing he figured was just good sense. Statistically speaking, the cold was more likely to kill you than a ghost.

No, the real problem was the distance. He loved this city, but boy was it big. They'd tried calling for a cab before he left, but it seemed as if most of the transportation in the city had been shut down, what with everything going on that night. Or as Janine had put it, "_One_ taxi gets stepped on by a living dinosaur skeleton, and suddenly it's 'too hazardous' for anyone to buck up and do their job." At the time, he'd told her not to worry too much. He already knew these packs were heavy, but he assured her that he spent plenty of his free time watching workout tapes, so he was sure he was in perfectly good shape for this sort of thing.

It soon turned out that carrying one of these packs around on a hunt for Slimer had already been difficult, but running all over the city was a very different story. Starting tomorrow, he was watching those tapes with a backpack full of rocks.

He was pretty sure that getting onto a bus driven by a giant slime ball that didn't even have feet, not to mention very likely not having a valid driver's license, was probably violating the 'make good decisions' part of the advice he'd been giving himself. He didn't even know why it was driving a bus around the city. Maybe it decided it felt bad about stealing his lunch all the time and came to help, or maybe Janine had sent it after him once it became clear no one else out there was going to drive him anywhere. Or who knows, maybe it had just stolen a bus because it was getting up to mischief like all other sorts of strange things that night, and it only came across his path by chance.

But even if he had a lot of good reasons to be concerned about getting on that bus, those packs were _heavy_, and he was certain he was going to collapse if he had to make it the rest of the way on foot.

And anyway, it gave him someone to talk to while he was on his way to the museum. Slimer didn't exactly speak, at least not in a way he could really understand, but the ghost didn't seem to mind listening. By the time they were pulling up to the bus stop closest to the museum, he felt confident that they'd come to some sort of understanding, at least enough to know that his lunch wasn't going to be stolen much anymore. Granted, that was probably because he'd promised to bring extra to share, but he figured the ghost was sort of his friend now, so it seemed like a better way of handling things than chasing it around the firehouse.

Soon, the bus came to a stop and he climbed off again, ready to jump back into the action. He made it a few steps before he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned around to find Slimer still trailing after him.

"What're you doing here?"

The ghost gestured in the direction of the museum, indicating that it was planning on coming with him.

"Well…"

The idea of having some backup was nice, but would it be safe there? Truth be told, he still didn't really know exactly was going on, and he didn't want to put his newfound friend in jeopardy.

"I don't think that's a good idea. This is just for Ghostbusters."

Slimer let out an unhappy whine and sunk a little lower in the air, his arms trailing limply towards the ground.

"Aw, don't be sad." He quickly attempted to comfort the large creature. "There's plenty of things you and I can do together. I bet with arms like that you're a real good bowler."

The ghost perked up again, flexed one of its arms, and looked rather impressed with what it saw.

"See?" Louis encouraged it cheerfully. "Why don't you go and celebrate? It's New Year's Eve."

Slimer immediately took off again, though Louis got the sense that it was more because it had spotted an unattended pretzel cart than because of his advice. Either way, it managed to splatter a glob of slime onto his face as it zipped past.

"That guy _really_ stinks." He muttered to himself as he carefully tried to wipe it away. He was probably going to need to make a quick pit stop now, if only to make sure he could wash his glasses off. "Well, I got a lot of friends that smell. I guess it's not that bad…"

* * *

Finally, he was the museum, and doing his best to make his way through the crowd so he could get close enough to see what happening. He could definitely tell that something strange was going on, but it wasn't until he got closer that he could make out what it was. Even then, he wasn't sure exactly what to call it. It looked like some sort of giant pink blob, but but could also see that it was definitely solid. He couldn't get in. And as he stood there and started feeling a very familiar sense of dread, he realized he knew exactly what it was, even if he didn't know what to call it. A huge, looming barrier, one that meant he was stuck outside and helplessly waiting for something terrible to happen.

_'Please, not again_…'

And suddenly, it was hard not to feel terrified of it all happening over again. Standing outside, locked out and trapped. Not knowing what to do, and finding that the harder he tried to figure it out, the more he knew he was out of options. Realizing that he needed help and it wasn't coming. Knowing that no matter how many people were there, he was all alone. Something in the back of his mind wondering how and when he'd managed to become _that_ invisible. Finally being unable to do anything but freeze up and scream. Spending the next _five years_ struggling to shake off that one moment.

_'Not again_.'

He took a deep breath, and he reached for the proton pack.

"I'm here with you guys."


	18. Chapter 18

He was not afraid.

He should be. He knew very well that he should be. He couldn't even remember the last time when he hadn't been at least a little worried about something. And this was more than worrying about saying or doing the wrong thing. He didn't know what was going on, he didn't know what exactly what he was supposed to do, and he didn't know if he was going to do any good or not. Maybe those were the sort of reasons no one had come to help him. He wasn't mad at them. He understood. It was frightening on the other side of the glass, and it was safest to stay behind it, where the strange things didn't have to be your problem to handle. But he didn't belong there. Wearing this uniform was about more than the fame and recognition, it was a responsibility. It meant that he was one of the people that others were counting on, that night more than ever. And if he backed down, it would be like turning his face away, showing that they weren't worth the risk of sticking his neck out. That was _not_ going to be him.

Over the high-pitched whir of the proton stream, he could make out the crowd around him, still singing to ring in the New Year. It was a reminder that the past was the past, and time was still going. That meant things could be different this time. Whether or not it helped, he was doing _something_, and that thought alone was enough to make everything start to feel right. There were a lot of old feelings he'd tried very hard to push aside and bury. Now he let himself think about them, and found that the more he did, the more he realized it didn't hurt. What had once been an old ache chipped apart into little pieces drifting away. And at the same time, so did the wall in front of him.

For a few moments of silent awe, he could hardly manage to believe it. He'd almost expected everything to get a thousand times worse, if only because he was the one on the end of the proton pack. But this time, it seemed like just maybe he'd done something right.

"I did it… I did it!"

What finally made it real was when the people started to press in around him, swarming to clasp his shoulder, or to offer cheers of praise, or even to catch his eye long enough to share in the sense of relief and excitement sweeping over everyone. He was in the middle of a crowd, and he wasn't invisible. Even in his wildest dreams, it had never felt this wonderful. He was happy. Maybe there was some more poetic way he could have thought of to describe the feeling, but he was too busy enjoying it to care. He was so, so happy.

"_I'm a Ghostbuster_!"

* * *

Even from the feeling of the air around him, he could tell that everything was alright. More than alright. Things were really starting to get a whole lot better.

But even so, he figured he had better go into the museum, just to see why it was taking the guys and Dana so long to come out. The room was a disheveled mess, and he had to step carefully to avoid the candles covering a good deal of the floor. It was easy to see that something big had been going on, but it looked as if everything had been sorted out by then. The guys and Dana didn't seem to notice him at first, and he found them all gathered around to stare at a painting. A very strange, rather hard to explain painting. He decided to follow the example he'd picked up from Janine, and didn't ask.

"Hey guys, I got rid of the slime outside. Everything okay in here?"

They looked over and seemed rather surprised to see him standing there, especially in one of their uniforms. But Dr. Zeddemore focused on the more practical matter at hand, and went over to look out the nearest window.

"He's right, it's all gone."

"Yeah, I just…" He reached for the nozzle of the pack and mimed using the hose. "A few seconds of the proton stream and it all disappeared."

He was trying to look nonchalant, but he was pretty sure he looked more than a little excited about the whole thing. He was still reeling with the fact that he'd actually been a part of the sort of amazing stuff he'd been dreaming about for years.

"Well technically speaking, the dispersal of the shell was most likely caused by-"

Dr. Venkman grabbed Dr. Spengler by the shoulder and muttered something under his breath. It sounded a little like, "Let him have this." Louis didn't really notice, as was too busy starting to wonder why Dr. Stantz and some guy who looked a little like the thing that had shown up at Dana's window were covered in goo. At least they seemed to be alright. They were definitely in a good mood, in any case.

A part of him was a little worried for awhile, because he could still remember what had happened after the last time something like this occurred. It hadn't been all bad, he supposed. He had gotten a free sandwich from the hospital out of the whole thing. But he had to admit that it was nothing compared to getting to go out there with the rest of the guys, being one of the people the crowd was cheering for. And this time, there was no one telling him that he couldn't go with them in the car. There wasn't enough room for all of them, but Dana insisted that she would feel safer bringing Oscar home in a taxi, and Dr. Venkman had gone with her. He didn't quite know what they were thinking, because he knew that he wouldn't ever miss this for the world.

But even with a few less people, all the equipment meant that it was rather squished in there, and sort of a little stressful at times. He would describe Janine's driving style as being too impatient to follow most of the rules. With Dr. Stantz, he wasn't quite sure if he even knew what those rules were. He was very knowledgeable about cars themselves, that was certain. He didn't seem quite as aware of when it would be a reasonable time to use the brakes. It might have been because he didn't seem to be in an entirely right state of mind, but no one else seemed concerned, so Louis got the sense that driving usually went like this even when mood-altering slime wasn't involved. He made a mental note to take a look at their auto insurance policy later, but at the moment he was still too busy enjoying the fact that he was actually _riding in the Ecto 1-A_ to let logic entirely put a damper on the experience.

* * *

Business wasn't quite so hectic after all the dust settled from the Vigo incident. It definitely showed no signs of stopping completely, but they weren't quite as crazy busy anymore. But even so, things managed to be pretty crazy around the firehouse all on their own. He'd never quite pictured having a job where he'd end up making friends with some sort of giant green creature. He still couldn't really understand it, but he'd gotten pretty good at figuring out what were the 'feed me' noises, which was more than enough to keep them getting along.

And plenty of other things managed to keep the place pretty chaotic as well. Seeing the guys working on the car was nothing new, but it seemed as if they'd met their match with the latest problem they were trying to face.

"I'm just saying, if three people with a PhD can't manage to figure this out, there's obviously a very serious design flaw." Dr. Venkman complained.

"Are you sure we haven't gotten it right yet?" Dr. Stantz asked. "It looks fine to me."

Dr. Spengler was still doing his best to keep track of several very large sheets of instructions, all of which seemed designed to make the steps flow in the least rational way possible. He looked up and informed them, "It says we'll hear a click when it latches into place. We haven't heard a click yet."

"Well _maybe_ we missed it because Venkman wouldn't stop swearing."

"It's not my fault if this thing nearly pinched my fingers off."

From across the room, Janine sent them a stern glare that went largely unnoticed. "Do you people mind? I'm on the phone."

Louis glanced over at her and smiled. Since they were currently working on the same project, Janine had suggested he pull his chair around to sit behind her desk as well. Looking through several brochures and comparing prices was already something he enjoyed, and even more so when he was close to her. Her on the phone and him looking at paperwork had become a comfortable, familiar pattern, and he didn't think he'd ever stop being grateful that joining this place had brought him so much more than he'd ever dreamed of.

He had to admit that he'd been nervous about the call she was on. It was taking a bit of a big step, and he was very anxiously hoping for it to go well. But Janine seemed more confident, and she'd told him that she could be very psychic, so he figured she knew what she was doing. And as far as he could tell, everything had been going perfectly well. Hearing the one side of what seemed to be a friendly, easy conversation had come as a huge relief. And then Janine started on the topic they'd been planning to bring up the whole time.

"So anyway, Louis and I have been looking into some plans for our vacation time, and we were wondering what you'd think about us stopping by if we come down to visit Florida?"

Louis looked over again, and saw Janine's expression grow confused as she listened to the response.

"What do you mean 'Why would I want to do that?' Because I'm his girlfriend and I'd like to meet some of his family."

Louis fidgeted in his chair as it became clear the conversation wasn't going quite as expected.

"Yes, he _does_ have a girlfriend. Why did you think he called to introduce us?"

There was a sharp "_OW!_" just before the swearing started up again, and Janine sent another stern glare before turning back to the phone.

"I'm sorry, but Louis said he told you about the two of us." A few more moments of listening, and then, "Well why would you assume he was making it up?"

Louis's eyes widened, and he very frantically motioned for her to hand him the phone. It hardly took him more than one motion to pull it to his ear, quickly blurt out, "Sorry Mom, awful busy here, gottagobye," and then clumsily slam the receiver down.

He looked back over at Janine, who seemed a little like she was trying not to laugh.

"She means well." He said sheepishly.

Still trying to bite back an amused grin, her only response was to reach over and take his hand.

"Maybe we should start off with my cousins." He suggested. He felt like it was a feeble attempt at salvaging the situation, but she looked receptive to the idea.

"Throw in a stop at Niagara and I'm in."

As he began looking through some information focused on north of the border, it was Janine's turn to watch him and smile.

She wouldn't say that he had changed, exactly. He was still very much the awkward dork of an accountant she'd fallen for. But it seemed as if everything he'd been through on New Year's Eve had helped to bring out the best in him. There was a sense of self-assurance that hadn't always been there before. She knew that he still wasn't nearly as close with the rest of the guys as they were with each other. Years and years of friendship weren't something that could be replicated in a few short months. But even so, he didn't give off quite the same vibe of a nerdy freshman trying desperately to impress the cool kids. And as he carried himself with a little more confidence, he didn't get brushed aside so much anymore. At times, he managed to fall naturally into being a part of the group without having to try so hard to insert himself. After many days of watching him try not to let his face fall when he realized he was being left out again, she liked seeing him having an easier time around here.

A few minutes later, Dr. Zeddemore came down the stairs, already wearing his coat and gloves. He saw that no one else was wearing the same, and nervously looked down at his watch. "Why isn't anyone ready? We've gotta be at Liberty Island in time for the afternoon news."

"This car seat is _evil_, that's why." Dr. Venkman responded as he glared at the contraption in question.

"I really think we got it already." Dr. Stantz said. "We followed all the steps, didn't we?"

Dr. Spengler came over to examine it himself, and quickly frowned. "It can still wobble all over the place. The instructions say it's supposed to be secure."

Dr. Stantz took a step back, in the vain hope that a different viewpoint would reveal some solution. "I don't understand it. We did everything we were supposed to."

"Well we were supposed to be on our way to pick up Dana and Oscar fifteen minutes ago, and clearly 'secure' isn't in this thing's vocabulary. I'm open to ideas here." Dr. Venkman replied.

Dr. Stantz considered hard for a few seconds, and then uncertainly suggested, "I don't know, glue?"

"Alright, that's enough." Janine interrupted as she finally came over, pulled the instructions away, and used them to shoo the rest of the guys away from the car. "Louis and I can set this thing up, you people just get your coats."

"You did call a cab, right? Because there's no way we can fit everyone in the one car."

"Yes, I called a cab. And it's probably waiting outside by now, so get a move on."

Before long, Louis and Janine were alone in the room, and somehow Janine seemed to be making sense of the whole thing a lot easier than anyone else in the building.

"I still can't believe they're really getting a key to the city." Louis eagerly started to make conversation while the two of them were working. "Do you think they're gonna say anything about me? I hope so, 'cause I'm planning to tape it and send the whole thing to my family. A lot of them still don't believe I work here."

"I'm sure they'll mention you." She assured him. A moment later, there was a satisfying _click_, and the car was finally ready to transport a baby.

Not long after, the guys were rushing back downstairs, with Dr. Venkman herding the group to make sure no one wasted any more time. "Alright people, let's hit the road. Everybody's supposed to be onstage getting honored in t-minus one hour."

The car was soon starting its usual screeching journey out of the garage, but stopped at the last minute for Dr. Venkman to lean his head out the window again.

"What are you two waiting for? The cab out there isn't gonna wait forever."

Janine looked a little surprised, and Louis was shocked for a moment before a broad grin broke out.

"We're coming too?"

"I said 'everybody,' didn't I?" He replied impatiently. "They said they wanted the whole team, that includes you guys."

This was quite possibly the best day of his entire life.

* * *

When Louis followed everyone else onto the stage, the first thing he felt was relieved that the crowd was responding happily and enthusiastically to the sight of them. Things could have gone a lot worse after the way they'd been messing with a national monument, and he really didn't think he could handle going back to that courtroom.

He was definitely in the center of a lot more attention than he'd ever received before. Plenty of cameras were filling the air with bright flashes, news crews were rolling tripods around as they did their best to get footage from every angle of the stage, and in the corner of his eye boom mics hovered above them to soak up every word anyone said. It was a lot to take in, and almost overwhelming, but he decided that it was overwhelming in the best possible way.

When Janine noticed a camera pointed vaguely in her direction, she took a step closer and looped her arm through his. If it had been anyone else, Louis might have thought she was nervous, but he knew Janine better than that. 'Shy' was definitely not a trait he would ever use to describe her. He looked over and saw her lift her chin as she stared straight into the camera, and then he realized. She _wanted_ people to see that they were together. She was _proud _of it. His smile grew wider, and he reached over to place his free hand on her arm.

Before long, the Mayor came out, proudly displaying the large key, and the roar of the crowd grew louder. He and Janine had to separate again to join in with the applause, but she never moved away far.

Dr. Venkman was the one to accept the key, but he soon began passing it around so the reporters could get a shot of everyone having their turn holding it. When Louis's turn came, the flurry of cameras maybe wasn't quite as enthusiastic as it was for the more well known members of the team, but he seemed too happy to notice.

It did attract a little more attention when Janine had pulled him in for a celebratory hug that lasted long enough to interrupt the flow of the ceremony. He could hear a few light laughs, and the mayor cleared his throat impatiently, but he didn't care. Janine was doing her best to pull him close through their thick coats, and that closeness would always be better than the attention of a million reporters.

Finally, the mayor's impatience got noticeable enough that Dr. Zeddemore reached over to nudge them and give a half-joking reminder of, "Alright, take it easy you two."

The rest of the ceremony largely passed by in a blur, and it was hard to make out much of any speeches over the crowds and reporters and the ever-present roar of the wind that, as a rule, never liked to cooperate with outdoor ceremonies. Not too long ago, he would have dreaded the end of the whole thing, feeling like it might be his one moment to cling to the feeling of being recognized.

But now, he felt okay. He'd become more and more used to having reasons to feel happy, to the point that it was starting to seem as if that happiness was just… life. It was his life, and it was a good one. He was part of a team now, and that meant people who weren't going to go away. That was all he'd ever really wanted.

And as he looked over the people up on stage with him, he was certain that this was the best team in the world. And he was really here. He was one of them, right where he was meant to be. He was a Ghostbuster.

The End.

* * *

_Thanks to everyone who's been reading this! I've really enjoyed writing it, and I hope people enjoy reading it as well._


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